


feel me up

by k_yoong



Series: love talk [2]
Category: EXO (Band), SuperM (Korea Band), WayV | 威神V
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Fraternity, Breaking Up & Making Up, Byun Baekhyun is Bad at Feelings, Explicit Sexual Content, Locker Room Sex, M/M, it's come to my attention locker room sex is not a tag but, like extremely explicit, resolved emotional tension, vague references to size difference kink due to who i am as a person (again)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-07
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-12 21:49:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 24,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23024419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/k_yoong/pseuds/k_yoong
Summary: What Baekhyun thinks was just a one-night stand turns out to be a little bit more than that. Lucas manages to keep him coming back, again and again.
Relationships: Byun Baekhyun/Wong Yuk Hei | Lucas, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: love talk [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1539880
Comments: 57
Kudos: 352





	1. Chapter 1

Baekhyun avoids Kyungsoo for as long as he physically can, by which he means he bolts from Professor Kim’s class the minute he finishes passing out exams, before Kyungsoo can stop him, and dodges his calls and Extremely Angry texts for about five hours. When he comes home, Kyungsoo is already sitting on his couch, like he’s a stern father whose teenage daughter has just been caught coming home after curfew in another boy’s clothes. Except Kyungsoo is definitely not Baekhyun’s father, and even though he might still be wearing Lucas’ stupid scarf (and sweatshirt, for that matter) it’s none of Kyungsoo’s business, and he really  _ really _ needs to stop giving all his friends spare keys to his apartment.

Like Jongdae. Fucking Jongdae, who’d cackled like a maniac and congratulated Baekhyun on ‘ _ getting some _ ’ when he saw him on campus and slapped his ass again, extra hard, just to see Baekhyun squirm, because he  _ knew _ what happened yesterday, because it was  _ his fault _ it had happened to begin with. Baekhyun had walked away almost immediately, but that hadn’t stopped Jongdae from wolf-whistling at him until he was well out of sight. 

Maybe Baekhyun just needs better friends, period. He wonders if senior year is maybe too late to try and branch out. Except Kyungsoo at least has the decency of raiding his refrigerator and cooking him dinner whenever he decides to come over unannounced, and Baekhyun can smell kimchi fried rice, so Kyungsoo is okay for now, but he’s on thin fucking ice.

“You’re on thin fucking ice,” he says, out loud, just for good measure. “Dinner smells good.”

“And you’re an asshole,” Kyungsoo snarks back, but there’s no bite to it. This is just how they communicate now. “I know, I made your favorite. Wash your hands before you eat. Asshole.”

Kyungsoo warms up the food for him while he washes his hands, and when Baekhyun sits down at his kitchen table to eat Kyungsoo is still staring at him like he wants him to die, a little bit, but he’s also made Baekhyun tea, so he probably can’t be too mad. 

“Thank you,” Baekhyun mumbles into his food, and because he knows what’s coming next: “What do you want to know?”

“Fucking  _ finally _ ,” Kyungsoo snaps, and leans over the table too intensely. “Who was that? How do you know him? Why did he call you kitten? And would you take off that fucking scarf, it’s still 60 degrees out and you’re  _ indoors _ you look ridiculous.”

Baekhyun tries to squirm away, but Kyungsoo is faster than him, and manages to tug off the offending piece of fabric with his tiny little lizard hands. “His name is Lucas,” he says weakly as Kyungsoo gapes at his neck. “Yukhei. I don’t know. We hooked up last night. I didn’t know he was in our class.”

“You mean he  _ mauled _ you.”

“Is it _ that  _ bad?” Baekhyun covers his neck self-consciously. He hadn’t taken a proper look at it this morning, but he remembers how enthusiastically Lucas had gone at his neck, and he’d been really into it at the time (okay, he’s still really into it), and he can’t bring himself to regret that part too much. If he’s being honest with himself, which he rarely is, it makes him feel a little giddy to know every time he looks in the mirror for the next week, all he’ll see is the marks Lucas made on him, like a sign of possession. Baekhyun can’t remember the last time he actually  _ wanted _ a man to be possessive of him, except Lucas is technically his student, and therein lies the problem. 

“I think we both know the answer to that,” Kyungsoo says, and graciously lets Baekhyun cover his neck back up again. “Holy shit. Was he good?”

Kyungsoo’s not normally the type to ask about these things, but Baekhyun really,  _ really _ needs to talk about this to someone who’s not Jongdae. 

“So fucking good,” Baekhyun groans and slumps over the table, Kyungsoo’s weird and specific standards for cleanliness be damned. “Kyungsoo. I don’t know what to do. He was so nice too. He asked me to stay the night  _ and  _ made me breakfast the morning after. Who does that? I can’t think anymore. I think he fucked all the braincells out of me.”

“You’re dickmatized,” Kyungsoo says very seriously, like it’s a real medical condition. It might as well be. Kyungsoo is pre-med, so he’d know. Baekhyun’s not sure how he’s supposed to survive the rest of senior year if some stupid hot frat boy is making him go dick stupid already. “Was it a one-time thing?”

The million dollar question. 

All the signs point to no: Lucas had exchanged numbers with him, and offered him a shower, and kissed him goodbye, and even gave him his clothes so he wouldn’t have to do the walk of shame straight to class. But Lucas might just be a polite guy like that, and Baekhyun’s certainly not willing to make assumptions. 

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun says, after a pause. “I’m still a little mad at him for pulling this on me, since I’m pretty sure he knew who I was this whole time. And I don’t know if it’s...ethically advisable for me to be seeing a student anyways.”

Kyungsoo shrugs, and guides Baekhyun to sit up straight with a hand at his neck. “I’d normally agree, but he’s not technically your student, really, and as long as you’re not the one grading his assignments or exams, I don’t really see the problem.”

That’s weird. Baekhyun generally expects Kyungsoo to be the voice of reason to talk him  _ out _ of questionable decisions, not into them. “You don’t?” 

“I mean, there’s no rules against TAs dating students, technically,” Kyungsoo muses out loud. “As long as you’re not the one grading his exams, what’s the ethical dilemma here?”

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun admits, and puts his head in his hands. When he’d agreed to go to that party with Jongdae that night, he didn’t know he was signing up for a one night stand, let alone one with his student, who just happened to be stupid hot and a ridiculously attentive lover in bed. It’s all a little too much to process right now. “It made more sense in my head. I don’t even know if he wants to see me again.”

At that, Kyungsoo rolls his eyes. “Don’t do that thing where you overthink everything to death,” he chides, and Baekhyun just shovels a too-big bite into his mouth. “It sounds like he actually likes you. This could be good for you.”

“I know,” Baekhyun says, with a mouthful of rice. He washes it down with a sip of tea.

“And it’s been a while since…” Kyungsoo lowers his voice. “You know.”

“ _ I know _ ,” Baekhyun says again, more insistently. “I know that. I’m fine.”

Kyungsoo, blessedly, lets it go after that. He knows when to push Baekhyun, but he also knows when to back off (unlike Jongdae, who really just likes to push Baekhyun as far as he can go), and though they don’t talk about  _ feelings _ often, it’s nice just to have Kyungsoo there sometimes, to find comfort in his presence. 

He leaves an hour later, after doing Baekhyun’s dishes for him, and on his way out he stops in the doorway to turn around and look Baekhyun in the eyes very seriously. “I mean it, you know. Don’t overthink this. If you like him and he likes you, you should go for it.” He pauses briefly to absorb a thought. “But also, if you ever make me listen to him call you  _ kitten _ again I’m going to personally report you to the Office of Academic Integrity for unethical behavior.”

Baekhyun slams the door in his face.

  
  


**

When Lucas shows up at his Office Hours the next day, Baekhyun’s just a little bit on edge. He can’t say he wasn’t expecting this, because he was, and he’s planned this confrontation out in his mind a million times but seeing Lucas in the flesh is very, very different than thinking about him (which Baekhyun has been doing, religiously, for the past consecutive 36 hours). Something about his general existence sends Baekhyun’s fight or flight response into overdrive, by which he means he feels the desperate urge to either drop to his knees and suck his dick on the spot, or run away altogether. So he’s not sure how this is going to go. 

Lucas closes the door behind him when he enters Baekhyun’s office, and today he’s wearing a soft-looking white sweater, a little too big for him, and dark wash jeans. He looks so good that it’s a little unfair, and call Baekhyun bare minimum but somehow it’s more devastating than seeing him in close to nothing was. He can’t control the vaguely feral reaction it evokes in him. Confusing!

“Will you lock the door?” Baekhyun asks, eyes darting around the room. He stands up to walk around the desk, sizing Lucas up as he does.

Lucas’ eyes go wide immediately, and Baekhyun rushes to clarify. “Not because we’re going to do anything,” he clarifies, and watches Lucas deflate a little bit. He looks like a kicked puppy, and Baekhyun feels bad, a little bit, which is ridiculous because all he’s said is that he and Lucas aren’t going to fool around in his office while he’s at work. “I just feel like you’re not just here for help with Econ, and I really don’t want anyone to walk in on our conversation and misunderstand anything.”

“What is there to misunderstand?” Lucas looks genuinely confused. When he walks forward to stand in front of Baekhyun, he looks smaller than any man who’s six foot two has the right to look, even though Baekhyun (still) has to tilt his head all the way up to make eye contact with him. Baekhyun hates how endearing it is. His hands fidget nervously, and suddenly Baekhyun remembers how stupid big those hands are, and how they’d felt on different parts of his body, and inside him too—

“You know what I’m talking about,” Baekhyun hisses, and subconsciously tugs at the collar of his turtleneck, worn specifically to hide the hickeys Lucas had left on him from last time. It’s not very seasonally appropriate, but it’s less obvious than the scarf yesterday had been, and Jongdae always tells him he looks like a sexy academic twink in turtlenecks, which isn’t  _ not _ the look Baekhyun’s going for. “Are you here to mess with me?”

Lucas looks down at him, dark hair falling into his eyes. His hair isn’t pushed back today, free of product, and Baekhyun resists the urge to run a hand through his hair to see if it’s as soft as it looks. “Is this about Thursday night?”

“What else would it be about?” Baekhyun asks, suddenly defensive. He doesn’t miss the way Lucas follows the movement of his tongue when he licks his lips — a nervous habit.

“Did you not have a good time?” Lucas looks even more like a kicked puppy now. It’s even harder to handle than the confident persona he’d put up at first, and Baekhyun’s a lot of things, but he’s definitely not heartless and he definitely  _ is _ weak to Lucas, even if they’ve only just met. “I thought—”

“Of course I had a good time!” he hisses, embarrassed, and feels his face flush red. Lucas should know that more than anyone, especially since Baekhyun had gotten off once just by sucking Lucas off, which should have been a physical impossibility but happened somehow anyways. “That’s not the point, I just don’t know what you’re trying to do right now—”

“I actually need help with Econ,” Lucas insists. “I’m not doing very well in the class.”

“Could you ask Kyungsoo for help, maybe?” It’s not that Baekhyun doesn’t want to help Lucas, or that he doesn’t have time for it, but if all Lucas has to do to get Baekhyun ready to go is wear a fucking sweater, this isn’t going to turn out well for either of them. 

“His Office Hours conflict with basketball practice,” Lucas whines, and god,  _ of course _ he’s on the fucking basketball team. “And Professor Kim said you’d tutored students who needed help in the past, so I just thought…”

Baekhyun tries extremely hard not to think about Lucas, all sweaty, tossing around a stupid ball and dunking three pointers or whatever the fuck they do in that sport. The important part of the fantasy is that Lucas is sweaty, and doing athletic things with his biceps that make Baekhyun’s head hurt to think about. 

“Baekhyun, please?” It’s so unfair that Baekhyun’s already this whipped for someone he barely knows. He really  _ is _ dickmatized; all Lucas needs to do is bat his eyelashes a little bit and Baekhyun is putty in his stupid fucking (big) hands, and he really can’t deal with that right now. 

“Did you lie to me about your name?” he asks, just to deflect, and because this has been bothering him for a while. If he can catch Lucas in a lie, somehow, it’ll be easier to turn him down.

“No!” Lucas exclaims, scrambling to show Baekhyun his Student ID. “My Chinese name is Yukhei. I just go by Lucas.”

“Well… why didn’t you tell me you knew me yesterday night?” he demands. “You knew who I was the entire time, didn’t you?”

Lucas deflates a little bit at the accusation. “Well, yeah,” he starts, looking up at him with wide eyes. “But I didn’t think you would look at me twice if I told you where I knew you from, and you looked so pretty, you always do, and I just really, really wanted to kiss you. I’m sorry.”

And there it is again. His stupid, too-earnest honesty. It’s infuriating, almost, how Lucas says all of this with ease, while Baekhyun struggles with the simplest of confessions. 

“You’re so stupid,” Baekhyun says, somehow breathless even though he’s just been standing still for the past ten minutes. Before he really understands what he’s doing he’s grabbing at the material of his sweater (as soft as he’d thought it looked) and dragging Lucas down to press their mouths together eagerly, the same way he’d been thinking about doing since Lucas had walked through the door looking every bit like Baekhyun’s  _ boyfriend you’d take home to your parents for Christmas dinner _ fantasy come true. Lucas stills in shock, but manages to wind an arm around his waist, his other hand flying immediately to tangle itself in Baekhyun’s hair. 

Once he recovers from his initial surprise, Lucas surges forward, pressing against Baekhyun until he backs up into his desk, and suddenly his hands are wrapping underneath his thighs to fucking  _ lift _ him onto the desk, effortless. It makes Baekhyun’s head spin, the same way it had when Lucas had tossed him onto the bed two days ago, because he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about that ever since. He steps between the open V of Baekhyun’s legs to press close again, tug his bottom lip between his teeth and slide his tongue into Baekhyun’s mouth when he moans. 

Baekhyun thinks, all at once, that he’s happy it’s Saturday Office Hours so no one really bothers to come in, that Lucas is even better at kissing than he remembered somehow, that he’s probably crumpling some very important papers underneath his ass right now, and that none of that matters because Lucas makes really nice noises when Baekhyun licks into his mouth and Baekhyun would very much like to hear them again. So he does it again, hitches a leg up around Lucas’ waist (Too far? Maybe, but he’s too far gone to care at this point) and this time Lucas groans against his lips, reaches around to grab at Baekhyun’s ass and press their bodies closer together.

Lucas pulls back and Baekhyun lets out an (extremely involuntary) whimper before Lucas noses against his cheek, drops a kiss along his jawline then dips lower to hook a finger under Baekhyun’s turtleneck. He tugs it down until the marks he’d left reveal themselves, one by one, and all Baekhyun can do is breathe heavy and clutch at his shoulders (so broad he can’t even wrap his arms all the way around) helplessly as he bites gently at the bruised skin, laves his tongue over the already existing hickeys and making them darker, more severe. The entire time, he kneads at the flesh of Baekhyun’s thigh where it’s still wrapped around his waist, and Baekhyun squirms underneath him, trying not to make any noise because he’s not sure if these offices are soundproof and he’s definitely not trying to find out.

“I’m going to have to wear turtlenecks everyday for the next month, at this rate,” he says, not-really-complaining but whining anyways. 

“Good,” Lucas replies simply, sucks a very obvious and very difficult-to-hide mark right under Baekhyun’s jawline. Baekhyun can’t even be mad, not when it gives him a secret thrill to know Lucas wants to leave his marks on him and wants those marks to show.

Baekhyun tries to tug him back up for another kiss, one hand fisted in his hair, and this time he really does whimper when Lucas pulls away after a couple of minutes. 

“Is that a yes to tutoring me, then?” he asks, grinning from ear-to-ear. 

“I—” Baekhyun stutters helplessly, about to say no before he remembers it  _ is _ his literal job to help students who ask for it, even if those students also happen to make out with him every so often. “Fine. I guess. But this won’t happen again. It can’t.”

Lucas’ eyes gleam, and he smiles at Baekhyun like he’s just amused by it all. “You got it. Won’t happen again.”

**

Except it does happen again, and Baekhyun doesn’t even think it can be considered his fault, this time. They agree to meet every Wednesday, which turns out to be a bad idea because it turns out that the basketball team has weightlifting every Wednesday, coincidentally right before Baekhyun and Lucas’ tutoring sessions. So when Lucas shows up to the library all sweaty and out of breath, biceps on full display, Baekhyun thinks no one could blame him for tugging him into the Encyclopedia section (because no one uses it, because Google exists now), or for letting Lucas push him up against the bookshelf and lift him up until his back is digging into the books behind him to kiss him until he’s dizzy.

And then it happens again, and again, and again, even outside of their weekly sessions, until Baekhyun just stops keeping count, academic integrity or whatever be damned. Lucas picks concepts up quickly enough anyways that Baekhyun doesn’t feel bad spending the majority of their “tutoring” time making out in dark corners of the library, or against the walls of the lecture hall after everyone’s left, or on the couch in his office. It never goes further than that, and Baekhyun wonders if it’s because Lucas doesn’t  _ want _ or because he’s too afraid to ask. 

He starts making turtlenecks a regular part of his wardrobe, because Lucas has a thing for leaving marks all over him, and Baekhyun likes it too much to tell him to stop. Jongdae continues to cackle at him until Baekhyun threatens to tell Minseok about the time he’d gotten wasted and thrown up on his favorite shirt, then blamed it on a random freshman. That shuts him up more effectively than Baekhyun’s ever seen before. 

His other friends, on the other hand, are more difficult to deal with.

“This is so funny,” Chanyeol guffaws over lunch, because Baekhyun’s run out of scarves to cover up and all his high-necked shirts are currently in the wash. He’d asked his neighbor to borrow her concealer, and though Seulgi had given him a weird look, she’d acquiesced. It’s just too bad Baekhyun has no fucking clue how to put makeup on, and it ends up just looking patchy and weird on his neck. “Baekhyun the volcel parading himself around campus with a neck full of hickeys, like a high schooler who’s just started having sex and wants everyone to know about it.”

Baekhyun kicks him, hard, under the table, until Chanyeol yelps loud enough that everyone else in the cafe starts looking at them weirdly. 

“It’s not like I  _ want  _ people to know,” Baekhyun grumbles, slouches in his seat like that’ll help hide the marks. “And don’t call me that. I know for a fact you haven’t gotten laid in months.”

“That’s hurtful,” Chanyeol frowns, and steals a fry off his plate. Asshole. “I just don’t have time. I’m busy! But if I wanted to fuck, I could.”

Baekhyun shoots him a doubtful look. “Don’t look at me like that. You’re so mean,” Chanyeol complains. “Well, you’re always mean, but I thought getting laid was supposed to make you nicer. Endorphins, or whatever.”

“I’m not getting  _ laid _ . We just make out, that’s all.” Baekhyun mutters, and does his very best to ignore Chanyeol’s baffled expression.

“Really? Like, that’s it? Not even a little bit of hand stuff?” he asks, loudly. A mother sitting two tables away covers her daughter’s ears.

“Please be quieter when talking about my sex life in a public area,” Baekhyun pleads, knowing Chanyeol won’t listen to him but trying anyways. “We haven’t done anything beyond making out since the first time.”

“Well, what’s stopping you?”

A good question. Baekhyun doesn’t have an answer to that.

“I don’t know,” he stares at his plate, half-empty because Chanyeol’s been picking bits of his food off his plate throughout this whole conversation, and he’s just used to it by now. “He’s confusing. Like, our texts are super friendly but he’s always snapchatting me random selfies of himself half-naked at the gym. What does that mean?”

“It means he wants to fuck,” Chanyeol says unhelpfully. 

“Sorry, what?” Baekhyun asks, nearly choking on a fry. 

“He wants to fuck you. Plow you like a field. Mow your ass like grass. Destroy you anally. Should I go on?”

“Please don’t,” Baekhyun drops his head into his hands. “You are so embarrassing. Kyungsoo is right. I need better friends.”

Chanyeol just ugly laughs again, like he delights in Baekhyun’s misery, or something. “It’s a little late for that, Baek. And anyways, I’m right. You’ll see. He’ll make another move soon.”

Baekhyun wants to doubt him, but Chanyeol always has a way of being right about these things. Sure enough, a couple days later, Lucas pulls away mid-kiss while they’re sprawled over his couch, laughing as Baekhyun whines in protest and pressing a giant hand against his shoulder when he tries to lean back in again.

“What gives?” Baekhyun grumbles, trying not to sound as needy as he feels. He sits all the way up where he’s straddling Lucas’ lap, one hand braced on his chest.

Lucas drags one hand down Baekhyun’s waist slowly, the other resting steady over the width of his thigh. “I was just wondering if you were doing anything tonight,” he says, looking up at Baekhyun with uncertainty. “My frat’s having another party, if you wanted to come by.”

“Uhhhhh,” Baekhyun replies dumbly. “A party?”

“Yeah, you should come, it’ll be fun,” Lucas says earnestly, then hesitates. “But I know it’s not really your scene, or whatever, so no pressure, I just thought I’d ask, because I’d really like to have you there, but really it’s up to you, and actually, this was stupid, you don’t have to come if you don’t want to—”

“No,” Baekhyun cuts in, before he can process the words coming out of his own mouth. “I’ll come.”

Lucas sits up so fast his forehead knocks into Baekhyun’s chin. “Really?” he yells, then remembers they’re technically still in a faculty wing after-hours, and he isn’t really supposed to be there right now, and immediately quiets. He smooths his hand over the red spot growing on Baekhyun’s chin where they’d collided.

Baekhyun’s kind of regretting it already, but it’s too late to take it back, so he just nods. Plus, if Chanyeol’s right about this, it means he and Lucas will fuck again tonight, and Baekhyun’s kind of sort of been looking forward to a round 2. “Yeah, I don’t know if I’m going to be that fun to be around, but…”

“You’re always fun to be around!” Lucas insists, and clasps his hands between his. “I gotta go now, but I’ll text you the details?”

“Uh-huh,” Baekhyun says, dazed, and Lucas beams up at him, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips before he’s detangling himself from Baekhyun’s grasp and leaning over to grab his backpack from where he’d dropped it on the floor earlier. 

“Okay, see you later tonight then!” Lucas leans down for one last kiss before he leaves, and it takes everything in Baekhyun not to haul him back down onto the couch and force him to stay. Instead, he just waves blankly as Lucas slips out of his office, still struggling to process the series of events that just happened. 

12:22 PM [Baekhyun]  
_ jongdae.  
_ _ i’m going to ask you a question but don’t be weird about it  
_ _ what do i wear to a frat party  
_ _ also is getting invited to a frat party a date _

[jd] 12:24 PM  
_ (*@#?#?@?$?#(*@#$&*#@($AHHHHHHH 👁👄👁  
_ _ I’LL BE AT YOUR APARTMENT IN FIVE MINUTES _

12:24 PM [Baekhyun]  
_ i said don’t be weird about it!!!  
_ _ don’t come over I’m not even home right now  
_ _ i just wanted you to answer my questions! _

[jd] 12:25 PM  
_ too late omw already see you soon 👁👄👁 _

Baekhyun wonders, not for the first time, how much it would cost to change the lock on his apartment doors.

**

Jongdae sends him out the door almost 10 hours later with another slap to his ass, clad in another pair of too-tight ripped jeans and a loose-fitting t-shirt so wide it keeps slipping off his shoulder. Both borrowed, because Jongdae insists everything in Baekhyun’s closet screams  _ I’m saving myself until marriage _ , which is definitely not the image Baekhyun is trying to portray tonight.

( _ “I don’t know about this, Jongdae,” he’d yelled, upper half of his body on his bed and his legs in the air as he’d struggled to put the jeans on. “Isn’t the whole point of dressing for the occasion that my clothes should be easier to take off, not harder?” _

_ “You don’t get it,” Jongdae yelled back, from where he was struggling to tug one pant leg on over Baekhyun’s right calf.  _

You’re right, I don’t get it at all,  _ Baekhyun had thought, nearly kicking Jongdae in the face.  _

_ “It’s all about the act of seduction— it’s not enough for him to  _ want  _ to fuck you, I want him to see you and want you so bad he begs to fuck you. Like the time when Minseok and I—” _

_ Baekhyun cut him off with a real kick to the face before he could finish that thought. _ )

Minseok and Jongdae have decided tonight is their date night (meaning they’re kicking Jongdae’s roommate out to order Chinese takeout and fuck on the couch), so when Baekhyun shows up to the Sig Mu house, for the second time in his life, he realizes that Lucas is really going to be his only lifeline at this party. That’s somehow scarier than the last time he was here, when he’d been ditched by them and effectively knew no one. 

He stands at the door, trying to work up the courage to knock (or ring the doorbell? He doesn’t know how this works, Jongdae had just barged in last time and no one had batted an eye) when his phone vibrates in his back pocket.

[Lucas] 10:21 PM  
_ hihi =:D  
_ _ are u here yet??????? _

10:21 PM [Baekhyun]  
_ hi, just got here  
_ _ do i just walk in? _

[Lucas] 10:22 PM  
_ yea just come on in  
_ _ playin beer pong rn but i cn come get u at the door if u want _

10:23 PM [Baekhyun]  
__ no it’s ok   
__ see you in a minute  


He takes a deep breath. It’s not like he needs Lucas to come and retrieve him, he’s a grown man. He puts his hand on the knob, and the door suddenly swings open in front of him. Baekhyun steps back, in surprise, as a man who’s  _ at least _ as tall as Yukhei looks down at him, eyes menacing. 

“Hi,” Baekhyun says, as confidently as he can. “I’m here for the uh. Party?”

“Who do you know here?” The man demands, crossing his arms over his chest. “Name five brothers.”

He knows at least two, but Baekhyun’s not good at being put on the spot and his mind goes very, incredibly blank. “Uhhhhhh.”

All of a sudden, the man’s stormy expression does a total 180, and he smiles so sunnily at him Baekhyun wonders if he’s having a stroke. “Haha, kidding!” he says, and slaps a friendly hand on Baekhyun’s shoulder. Baekhyun wobbles from the impact. “Sorry, man, thought it would be fun to mess with you. Baekhyun, right? I’m Johnny. Lucas has told us  _ a lot _ about you.” 

Baekhyun pointedly ignores the suggestive look and eyebrow wiggle Johnny gives him. “Oh, uh, really? Yeah, he told me I should just… walk in? Do you know where he is?”

Johnny swings an arm around his shoulder and ushers him into the house. “Yeah, yeah, of course, I’ll take you to him right now!”

“Alright,” Baekhyun says, still nervous for some reason, and lets Johnny usher him upstairs, talking his ear off the whole time. They walk into what looks like it could’ve been a nice living room, if all the furniture weren’t currently pushed to the corners to make room for a couple of beer pong tables. When he steps forward, he tries very hard not to wince at the way his shoes stick to the ground, covered in half-dried Keystone Lite.

Lucas is standing at the table in the middle, and Baekhyun’s not sure if he’s winning or he’s losing because he doesn’t know how the game works, but he looks very confident about it, which is very sexy, so Baekhyun doesn’t particularly care. He’s got his own personal cheering squad behind him, and when he appears to successfully make a shot, they all crowd him in excitement. It almost makes Baekhyun smile, except he notices there’s one girl who takes the opportunity to hang off his arm, pressed too-close to be considered Just Friendly. 

His distaste must be written all over his face, because Johnny looks at him, then at Lucas, then at him again, before he suddenly looks like he understands. 

“You know Lucas is gay, right?” Johnny says, evidently noticing the same thing, and Baekhyun quickly tries to make his face less murderous and more neutral. “Whatever. Doesn’t matter. Watch this.”

“Huh,” Baekhyun replies dumbly, and suddenly Johnny’s arm falls to his waist, wrapping around him and pulling him close. 

“Nice shot, Lucas!” he yells casually, and when Lucas looks up at them, his expression is unreadable. That’s new. Baekhyun offers him a little wave.

Lucas hands off the ping pong ball to the girl and walks over to them with a few quick steps (Tall people privilege. Fuck him, and fuck his long legs), wrapping his hand around Baekhyun’s wrist as soon as he’s within reach.

“Thanks for escorting Baek,” he smiles at Johnny, tugging Baekhyun in until his face is pressed against his chest. “You wanna go take over my game now?” It’s the most polite  _ fuck off _ Baekhyun’s ever heard, but the underlying message is unmistakable. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Johnny says dismissively, letting go of Baekhyun easily. “You two have fun tonight, okay? It was nice meeting you, Baekhyun.” 

Baekhyun means to respond, but Lucas is suddenly leaning down to kiss him, one hand sliding into his back pocket and squeezing with purpose, so he just waves at Johnny as he walks away before hooking his fingers into the belt loops of Lucas’ jeans and pulling him closer. He should be embarrassed that they’re doing this, in the middle of a room, in front of all these people, but it hardly matters when Lucas is sliding his tongue into his mouth and biting at his bottom lip.

“Hi,” Baekhyun says, breathlessly, when they break apart for air. From the corner of his eye he can see the girl who’d been all over Lucas five minutes ago look away from them quickly. 

_ Ha _ , he thinks.  _ Take that _ . Immediately, he wonders when he became so vindictive. 

“Hey,” Lucas replies, amusement written all over his face, like he knows exactly what Baekhyun is thinking. He cards a huge hand through Baekhyun’s hair, smiling when Baekhyun leans into the touch. “I see you’ve met Johnny.”

“Yeah, he’s, uh. Nice.” Baekhyun laughs nervously. “Very welcoming.”

“Did he pull the whole,  _ who do you know here _ , thing on you? He does that to everyone. Thinks it’s hilarious.” Lucas rolls his eyes, wraps an arm around him, and Baekhyun doesn’t miss the way he tugs the side of his shirt down, just enough to expose a dark hickey he’d left three days ago on his collarbone that had yet to fade. “Also, you look good.”

“You do too,” Baekhyun smiles. “But you smell like one dollar beer.”

“Get a room,” someone yells behind them, and Lucas just flips them off without turning around.

“Do you want me to get you a drink? And I can introduce you to some of my brothers.” Lucas nods at a group of guys who’ve been eyeing them like a couple of vultures from some couches in the corner. He keeps his arm wrapped protectively around him, and Baekhyun pretends like it doesn’t please him, just a little.

He nods, and Lucas drags him to the makeshift bar, which is really just a fold-up table with some mixers and more types of flavored vodka than Baekhyun’s ever seen in one place before. Lucas makes him a drink that smells vaguely like Skittles, pushes the red solo cup into his hand, and when Baekhyun takes a sip he can hardly taste the alcohol at all.

“It’s good,” he says, even though his experience with mixed drinks is limited at best. “Better than the jungle juice I had here last time.”

“Oh yeah, that shit tastes like cough syrup— I thought you’d probably want something a little sweeter.” Lucas lets go of his waist in favor of sliding his hand into his own. “Be careful, though, it’s a lot stronger than it tastes. You wanna go meet my friends now?”

_ No, I don’t,  _ Baekhyun thinks. He takes a bigger sip of his drink this time and coughs. “Yeah, okay, sounds good.”

Lucas drags him by the hand through the crowd, introducing Baekhyun to everyone they bump into on the way. There’s Mark, who’d yelled at them to get a room earlier, Jongin, Sicheng, Taeyong, Taeyong’s on-again-off-again boyfriend (currently on) Ten, Taemin, Dejun. Baekhyun’s 99% sure he’ll never see any of these people after tonight and he wouldn’t be able to remember all these names anyways, even if he did, but it feels nice, almost, to have Lucas parade him around like this, show him off to all his friends like Baekhyun’s something to be proud of. Lucas doesn’t let go of his hand for a second, and by the time they’ve gotten to the corner he’d nodded to earlier, Baekhyun’s downed enough of his drink that the nervous thrumming in his veins has calmed to a vaguely anxious steady buzz.

“Guys,” Lucas announces loudly, and immediately three pairs of eyes turn on him. Baekhyun wonders if Lucas can tell he’s on edge by the way his palms start sweating, and if he might think it’s gross (because it is), and pull his hand away, but Lucas just squeezes his hand harder. “This is Baekhyun. Baekhyun, this is Hendery, Yangyang, and Kun.” He uses his free hand to point at each one, and Baekhyun does his best to commit their names to memory although the alcohol’s making his brain a little fuzzy at this point.

“Hi, Baekhyun,” Kun smiles warmly at him. He reminds Baekhyun of a teddy bear or something, all soft-looking and warm. His presence is almost immediately comforting. “Do you guys want to sit? Looks like there’s only one seat left on the couch, but we can pull up a chair.”

Lucas shakes his head, sitting down and dragging Baekhyun down onto his lap until he’s seated with his back to Lucas’ chest. “No, we’re good,” he says, and hooks his chin over Baekhyun’s shoulder. 

“Gross,” Yangyang says, not unkindly, and Hendery slaps his arm. 

“We’ve heard a  _ lot _ about you, Baekhyun,” Hendery leans forward to look at him, elbows on his knees. That’s definitely not the first time he’s heard that exact phrase today, and it probably won’t be the last. “Like, so much. Too much, even, because Lucas has been obsessed with you from the moment he laid eyes on you.”

Lucas starts playing with the rips in Baekhyun’s jeans nervously. “I was not  _ obsessed _ ,” he mutters, sliding a hand into one of the larger rips on his upper thigh. Baekhyun squirms a litte, ticklish.

“Yes, he was,” Yangyang cuts in gleefully. “Did you know he was going to drop the class until he showed up to the first lecture and saw you at the front of the classroom? He came home all dazed and speechless and we all thought there was something wrong with him but all he could talk about was how pretty the TA in his Econ class had been.”

Baekhyun starts coughing, and Hendery helpfully hands him his Black Cherry White Claw, which he downs almost immediately. Yangyang looks at him with deep and immense respect.

“Once, your hands brushed on accident when you were handing out papers, and he didn’t shut up about it for  _ two weeks _ ,” Hendery chimes in. “He practically begged Minseok to ask Jongdae to bring you to that Halloween party once he found out you knew each other.”

Baekhyun cranes his neck to turn back and look at Lucas, who’s blushing bright red. He could probably pass it off as Asian glow, if Baekhyun didn’t know for a fact he’d hadn’t been drinking since he arrived. “Is that true?”

Lucas just groans and buries his face into Baekhyun’s shoulder. “Maybe.”

“Okay guys, that’s enough,” Kun chides them. “Don’t freak out Baekhyun, now.”

“It’s definitely true,” Yangyang says eagerly. “When you showed up he freaked out so bad he had to take seven shots of tequila to calm down before he could work up the courage to go talk to you, and by the time he was done you’d gone downstairs. It was hilarious. He doesn’t even like tequila.”

“Please stop,” Lucas whines, his hand on Baekhyun’s thigh squeezing harder, like it’s his own personal stress ball. “Could we talk about like, literally anything else?”

Hendery looks like he’s about to say something that will completely disregard Lucas’ request and also embarrass him an extreme amount when Taeyong runs up to them, looking vaguely frazzled.

“Hi guys, sorry to interrupt, Ten’s doing interpretive dance on one of the tables downstairs, can you guys help me get him down?” he asks, and immediately everyone except Baekhyun lets out a collective sigh, like this is a very common nuisance. 

“Yeah, okay,” Lucas says, starting to shift Baekhyun off his lap and stand up. Baekhyun’s drunk enough that he doesn’t feel too embarrassed to clutch at Lucas’ sleeve, not wanting him to go. Lucas looks down at him with a frown, caresses his cheek with the back of his hand. “Sorry, babe, this is a four man job. I’ll be back soon, okay?”

Kun pats his shoulder reassuringly. “I’ll stay with him, you guys should go. We’ll be fine, right Baekhyun?”

Baekhyun nods when Kun turns to him, takes another sip of his drink because the more drunk he gets, the smoother it goes down. “Yeah, go, it’s okay.”

Lucas squeezes his hand once more, then leaves in a hurry. Ten had looked pretty small, when he’d met him twenty minutes ago, so Baekhyun’s not sure how trying to get him down from a table requires the manpower of four frat bros. 

“Ten gets violent when he feels his performance art is being interrupted,” Kun explains. “He’s a biter. And a scratcher. The last time we just let him be, he fell off and almost got a concussion, though, so we try to control him when we can.”

“I see,” Baekhyun says, carefully. “That sounds… interesting.”

“It’s mostly just weird,” Kun admits. “But we’re all family here, so we love him anyways. Which kind of brings me to my main point. I feel like I’m obligated to ask you— are you interested in Lucas? Romantically?”

Baekhyun downs the rest of his drink, in a panic. “I’m—” he starts, finding it hard to string together a real sentence both due to his current state of his inebriation and also because he’s not great with verbalizing his feelings, even when sober (especially while sober). “I’m … not  _ not _ interested? I think? I’m really not sure.”

“I see.” Kun looks directly at him, and Baekhyun desperately wishes Lucas would come back, like, now, to save him from this conversation, or that his drink would magically refill by itself. “Nothing wrong with that, but I’ll tell you now, in case you haven’t noticed, Lucas is definitely interested in you romantically. He has been from the start.”

It’s not like Baekhyun didn’t know that, but he’d really been doing his best to repress that knowledge, just trying to keep whatever’s between them casual. “Is this like, the d _ on’t you dare hurt my friend or I’ll kick your ass  _ talk? Is that what’s happening right now?”

“No,” Kun laughs, and Baekhyun relaxes, just a little bit. “It’s just that Lucas likes to act like this confident frat dude, because he thinks it’s how people expect him to be, but he genuinely likes you and I just thought you should know if you didn’t already.” He pauses. “But also, don’t hurt him, because I won’t kick your ass, but Hendery and Yangyang might.”

When Lucas gets back, nearly ten minutes later, Baekhyun’s doing a lot better, mostly because Kun has graciously refilled his drink, and he’s at that point of drunkenness where pretty much everything is hilarious to him.

“You guys having fun?” Lucas asks, sitting back down next to him. Baekhyun immediately crawls back onto his lap, wrapping his arms around his neck despite the fact that there’s more than enough space on the couch now that it’s just the two of them.

“Yes,” Baekhyun mumbles into his shoulder. “Kun is funny.”

“No, he’s not,” Lucas laughs, wrapping an arm around his waist. “So you must be very drunk.”

Kun frowns. “I can be funny! Maybe Baekhyun just has a better sense of humor than you.”

“Uh-huh, of course,” Lucas says, hand slipping up Baekhyun’s shirt.

“Okay, that’s my cue to go, I’ll leave you guys be.” Baekhyun detaches himself from Lucas long enough to turn his head and glance at Kun, who gives him a meaningful look. “Baekhyun, it was nice to meet you. I hope you’ll think about what we talked about.” 

“What was that all about?” Lucas asks.

Baekhyun nudges his head back underneath Lucas’ chin, and mouths wetly over his neck. “Dunno,” he mumbles. “Not sure what he’s talking about. But I like him. I like your friends.”

“They liked you too,” Lucas smiles, and he smells even more strongly of beer now, but Baekhyun still doesn’t think it’s gross, somehow. “Sorry I was gone so long. Got dragged into a keg stand competition.”

Baekhyun has no idea what that is. “I have no idea what that is,” he says out loud. “But it sounds hot. Did you win?”

“Yup,” Lucas pops the p, drags Baekhyun back until they’re making eye contact. Baekhyun’s vision is blurring around the edges a little bit, but in the nice way, and like this he can still see what really matters, like Lucas’ very pretty face. “Of course I did. Do you wanna go downstairs and dance now?”

“No,” Baekhyun whines, hands moving to Lucas’ belt. “I want to go to your  _ room _ .”

He can feel Lucas’ dick twitch with obvious interest underneath him, but Lucas pushes his hands away anyways. Baekhyun makes a mournful sound. “Too bad, because you owe me a dance first. From last time.”

“Boo,” Baekhyun says, but allows Lucas to lift him up and onto the ground. “Okay, but your room after?”

“My room after,” Lucas replies placatingly, and drags him downstairs, not seeming too sober himself. 

It’s even more evident, down here, with what seems like half the campus population crowded into their dance floor, that everyone seems to know and love Lucas. Even the people who don’t  _ know him _ know him look up at him with admiration. It makes Baekhyun feel proud, weirdly. 

He gets tugged into the middle and Baekhyun goes easily enough, laughing when Lucas makes use of their limited space to spin him in a circle. He twirls him around until they’re pressed back to front, Lucas’ arm wrapped loosely around his waist. 

“Can I have this dance?” Lucas grins goofily, and Baekhyun just giggles, tilting his head back to rest on Lucas’ chest.

“I suppose you can,” he says after pretending to think about it for a minute, and Lucas presses closer to him. Even though it’s too crowded and too hot and every other minute someone’s elbow knocks into his side and they’re both starting to get a little sweaty, Baekhyun decides he’s actually having fun; that this isn’t nearly as bad as he thought it would be.

They’re both too drunk to really do more than sway together, a little too slow to match the beat of the music or the pace of the people around them, but Baekhyun swivels his hips back to grind against Lucas and he guesses that must be good enough because Lucas immediately drops his head down to mouth at his shoulder, fingers digging into his hips encouragingly.

They stay like that for a good few songs, content to just grind lazily against each other before Baekhyun decides he’s going to die, like, right now, no exaggeration, if he doesn’t get his mouth on Lucas, and turns around in his hold to tiptoe up and kiss him tongue-first. Lucas responds eagerly, slotting a thigh between his legs and rolling his hips up. Baekhyun giggles into the kiss, giddy for some reason, tugs at Lucas’ hair until he’s tilting his head to the side and letting Baekhyun lick into his mouth filthily. 

He’s not even paying attention to what song’s playing now, or how many songs have passed, just focuses on Lucas’ lips beneath his and the feel of sweat-slick skin beneath his palms when he slides a hand up his shirt, running shamelessly all over his abs. Lucas feels a little too good to be true, sometimes, like God had personally shaped him into Baekhyun’s totally unrealistic wet dream, 6’2” with huge fucking hands and biceps practically the size of his head, and also made him this stupidly polite, honest, respectful gentleman. It should be a physical impossibility. As in, he shouldn’t exist, but he does, and moreover Baekhyun’s lucky enough just to exist (and more) in his general vicinity.

Baekhyun usually has the upper hand when they make out, like this, but Lucas is clearly more in his element here, and he  _ likes _ what it does to him. His easy confidence and laid back demeanor do weird, unspeakable things to Baekhyun’s libido, and though he’s having a great fucking time just kissing Lucas in this very public place, he’s not quite an exhibitionist and if he’s going to climb Lucas like a tree the way he desperately wants to, they’ll have to move somewhere more private. 

He breaks away, laughing when Lucas leans down to try and chase him, pushing his face away gently. Lucas pouts, turns his head to the side to bite at Baekhyun’s thumb playfully. “I wasn’t done yet,” he complains. 

“I’m not either,” Baekhyun promises, but it comes out more whiny than he’d like. “But I really,  _ really _ want to get fucked right now, and if I don’t get your dick in me within the next half hour I might seriously die.” He’ll be embarrassed by this in the morning, but Lucas is always nagging him to be more honest, always has from the start, and well. It doesn’t get more honest than this. 

Lucas’ breath hitches and he looks down at Baekhyun, like he can’t believe he’s real. “Your place or mine?” he asks, barely audible over the sound of the music even though his lips are pressed right against the shell of Baekhyun’s ear. A perfect imitation of the first time they’d hooked up.

Baekhyun rolls his eyes, because it’s an even dumber question the second time around, and leans in to tug one of Lucas’ piercings between his teeth. “Let’s do yours.”

**

It takes twice as long to get to Lucas’ bedroom than it really should, mostly because Baekhyun can’t stop pulling him around corners to kiss him, wanting to tease just a little. By the time Baekhyun closes the door behind him, Lucas is there immediately, crowding him in against the wall and pressing their mouths together eagerly. 

Lucas’ clothes come off easily enough, between kisses, tossed in the general direction of where Baekhyun assumes there’s meant to be a laundry basket. Baekhyun’s, predictably, are a different story.

“Not that I don’t love seeing your ass in these,” Lucas says, voice straining with effort. “But they’re so hard to get off. Like, you look so fucking hot, but you know you could wear literally anything, and I’d still find you hot, right?”

Baekhyun manages to pull the jeans down over his ass, and Lucas finishes the job for him, sighing in relief as he tugs them down to his ankles for Baekhyun to step out. “Jongdae said he wanted me to look so good that—” he cuts off into a groan as Lucas palms at his erection. “That you’d beg to fuck me, or whatever.”

“Do you want me to beg?” Lucas hooks a finger into the elastic of his boxer briefs (he’d worn his dick appointment ones, this time). “Because that can be arranged.” He drags the briefs down, too, and kicks them to the side. 

“No, that’s okay,” Baekhyun mutters, feeling very vulnerable now that he’s standing bare ass naked, in Lucas’ room, in front of an equally naked Lucas who’s very much got the body of someone who goes to the gym five to six times a week and runs marathons for fun (because he does). Baekhyun, conversely, can’t even walk uphill to his 9 AMs without getting a little winded. Lucas stares at him, for a long while, and Baekhyun resists the urge to cover himself back up. “Don’t look at me like that, weirdo.”

“Sorry,” Lucas mumbles, not sounding very sorry at all, and trails a few kisses down his jawline. “You just look so pretty.”

Pretty. Lucas is always calling him that. Sometimes handsome, sometimes cute, sometimes hot, but pretty seems to be his word of choice when it comes to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun can’t say he hates it, like at all. 

“Made me wait so long for this,” Lucas says before he can reply, shoving his hips against Baekhyun’s, tighter, and holding him on his tiptoes against the wall with just his hands. Like  _ he  _ wasn’t the one making Baekhyun hold out all night.

Baekhyun wants to say just that, except Lucas currently has his tongue shoved down his throat, and so kissing him back takes higher priority, for now. He’s never  _ not _ found it hot that Lucas is so much taller, so much bigger than him that he has to be on his tiptoes to kiss him properly, but being drunk also makes him a little bratty, apparently, and he can’t help but complain after a few minutes. 

“My legs are tired,” Baekhyun whines, with his arms wrapped around Lucas’ neck. “You’re too tall.”

“Oh, okay,” Lucas says easily, and suddenly he’s hauling him the rest of the way up in an impressive show of strength until Baekhyun’s legs wrap around his waist, ankles hooked behind his back. “That better?”

“Fuck,” Baekhyun curses, attaches his lips to the side of Lucas’ neck and bites down hard. “You’re such a show-off.”

“You like it.” 

And well, that’s true, but Baekhyun hates hearing it said out loud. “Shut up,” he mumbles instead, buries his face into Lucas’ neck. Lucas tightens his arms around him, lifts up and walks forward to deposit him onto the bed with ease, and weirdly, Baekhyun finds himself disappointed because now that Lucas has demonstrated, with an abundance of proof, that he can hold Baekhyun up like that against the wall, like he weighs nothing, he’d been hoping to get fucked against it like that too.

“I want to eat you out,” Lucas says suddenly when he crawls on top of him, short and to-the-point. No bullshit. Baekhyun respects that, but the directness of his statement also makes him choke on his own spit, in a very unsexy way. 

“You— wh— really?” Baekhyun flushes. “I’ve never— no one’s ever done that to me.”

Lucas stares down at him, horrified. “ _ Never _ ?” he says, like it’s a federal crime that no other man has ever stuck his tongue up Baekhyun’s asshole before. 

Baekhyun shakes his head in response, and Lucas suddenly looks very determined. “Well, I want to. A lot.”

“Okay,” Baekhyun agrees, just drunk enough to the point where he’s feeling a bit less embarrassed about this whole thing than he might if he were totally sober. He’s very thankful he showered right before coming here, now. “Yeah, go for it.” 

“Just wanna make you feel good,” Lucas says, kissing him again before he maneuvers him, too gentle, onto all fours with his huge fucking hands. “Trust me. I’ll take care of you.” 

“I know you will,” Baekhyun mumbles in response. Lucas always takes care of him. 

Lucas grabs a handful of his ass as Baekhyun gets settled, dragging a pillow down from the headboard to cushion underneath his arms and elbows, ass in the air. When he turns his head to the side to glance back at Lucas, he’s staring right back at him with blatant desire. “You look so pretty for me like this,” he says, thumbing over his entrance. “You sure you’re okay with this?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun didn’t know how much he’d wanted this, with Lucas, before he brought it up five minutes ago, but there’s literally nothing else he wants more right now. “Very okay with it, now please.”

“At least you said please,” Lucas slaps lightly at Baekhyun’s ass playfully, just to watch it bounce. If Lucas spanked him, for real, his handprint would probably cover his entire ass. The thought is enough to make him a little dizzy. 

And Baekhyun thinks he’s prepared, but nothing in the world could have prepared him for the way the first press of Lucas’ tongue undoes him as he drags it flat over his entrance. The touch is so foreign, weird in the best way possible, and already Baekhyun wonders how he went so many years without this.

“Oh my god,” he whimpers, and he swears he can practically feel Lucas smirk against him. He repeats the motion, again and again until Baekhyun is a shaking, quivering mess underneath him, clutching at the sheets. 

Just when Baekhyun’s starting to get used to  _ that _ , Lucas drags one hand up to his asscheek, holding him apart, the other hand wrapping around the circumference of his thigh to spread his legs before he downright buries his face into his ass. Baekhyun feels the last of his self-control fray at the edges as Lucas licks into him eagerly, and he might be drooling a little bit onto the sheets but that’s okay, it doesn’t matter, nothing matters except for Lucas’ tongue right now. 

“Fuck,” he slurs, dragging a hand back to grab at Lucas’ hair and drag him closer, hold him right where he wants him. He wonders if that might be too forward, but Lucas just moans approvingly, tracing the tip of his tongue around his rim before he thrusts it in again. His fingers dig into Baekhyun’s thigh so hard it hurts in the best way possible. 

His dick drags against the sheets when he pushes back into Lucas’ mouth and Lucas takes it in stride, refuses to let up, relentless as he eats him out messy and wet. The sounds coming from him are absolutely fucking filthy, all sloppy and Lucas keeps whimpering like he’s actually enjoying this, getting off on just making Baekhyun feel good (good is an understatement, at this point, it feels amazing and Baekhyun never wants it to stop). 

Every time he thinks he’s regained his composure, Lucas switches it up on him and does something with his tongue Baekhyun never even knew was physically possible, sliding his tongue into him as deep as it’ll go inside him, gentle but insistent. His moans start increasing in pitch and Baekhyun just wants to take, and take, and take, and it doesn’t help that Lucas encourages the behavior, lets Baekhyun tug him every which way and use him to chase his own pleasure.

Baekhyun’s thighs tremble, a sure sign that he’s close, and when he pushes Lucas’ head away, rolls onto his back so he’s underneath him again, he seems almost disappointed that Baekhyun’s stopped him. “Baekhyun?” he asks, confused. “Was it not good?” 

Lucas’ mouth is cherry red and slick with spit and it’s gross but it’s also perfect, he looks perfect and Baekhyun’s never wanted to kiss him more in his entire life, which is really saying something. So he grabs Lucas’ hair again and yanks, guiding him up until they’re face-to-face again, kisses him until they’re both dizzy and out of breath. 

“No, dummy, it was perfect,” Baekhyun says when they break for air, even though he feels like it should probably be obvious from the way he’d been moaning so loud anyone walking by probably could’ve heard him perfectly clear. “I just want to come with you inside.” Even though Lucas eating him out had felt fucking amazing, Baekhyun’s been waiting for the better part of a month and a half to get his dick inside him again, and he’s not going to waste this opportunity. 

Lucas’ eyes light up immediately, reaching over to the nightstand for lube and a condom. He passes both off to Baekhyun, and Baekhyun accepts the lube, but pushes the condom back into Lucas’ hand. Lucas looks even more confused now, and Baekhyun flushes all the way down to his neck. 

“I said  _ inside _ ,” he says, and watches as Lucas’ face processes every single human emotion all at once. “No condom.” Just in case he needs further elaboration.

“Are— are you sure?” Lucas asks, eyebrows furrowed. “You’re drunk, Baek.”

“I’m tipsy, not blacked out,” Baekhyun snaps. “So yes, I’m sure. And I’ve been thinking about this, like, a lot, so stop being a gentleman for two seconds to tell me if you want to come inside of me, or not.”

Lucas drops his head to his shoulder with a very audible groan, rutting down against his hips. “Of course I want to,” he says, muffled. “You’ve really been thinking about it? Like, for real?”

“Yeah, I think about a lot of stuff, when it comes to you.”

“Like what?” Lucas lets Baekhyun cover his fingers in lube, traces around his rim briefly before he pushes the first finger in as Baekhyun hisses, already stretched open a little bit from Lucas eating him out but extra sensitive because of it too. “Don’t be shy, babe, tell me.”

“Like— fuck—” Baekhyun cuts off as Lucas slides another finger in alongside the first, back arching off the bed, and Lucas presses a kiss to his neck soothingly. “Was just thinking about you holding me up and fucking me against the wall.” He squeezes at Lucas’ bicep, tries not to make it too obvious how aware he is that his hand isn’t even big enough to cover half the circumference of his arm.

Lucas works a third finger in and curls his fingers inside him, just slightly, and Baekhyun whimpers, shaking all over when Lucas does it again. “Would you believe me if I said I’ve thought about the same thing too?” he breathes out, free hand pinning Baekhyun’s hips down as he squirms, tries to fuck himself down onto Lucas’ hand. 

“Yeah, I would,” Baekhyun pants, because he recognized the same aching desire in Lucas’ eyes that he’s seen in his own, when they were making out against the wall earlier. Lucas’ pinky brushes against Baekhyun’s entrance and Baekhyun thinks he should say  _ no _ but what comes out of his mouth instead is  _ more, please, _ and suddenly Lucas is sinking a fourth finger into him, and it feels almost too full but it’s exactly what he needed at the same time, and then he’s coming untouched, moaning so loud he has to bite down on his own fist to keep from yelling as Lucas works him through his orgasm. 

“There you go,” Lucas says, genty, brings his free hand up to wipe away tears prickling at the corner of Baekhyun’s eyes that he hadn’t even noticed. “So pretty. Was that too much?”

“No,” Baekhyun sniffles. “Shut up. Can you just fuck me now? Told you I wanted to come with your dick inside me.”

Lucas laughs with his whole chest and Baekhyun tries not to be offended. “We can still do that, too,” he grins, bright even in the dim lighting of his messy room. “C’mon, put your legs around my waist.”

Baekhyun complies, and Lucas squeezes his thigh, once, before he’s lifting them both up again. Baekhyun’s arms wind around his shoulders as he gets pushed, practically slammed up against the nearest wall, and even though his movements are rough, Lucas keeps a hand at the back of his head to make sure he doesn’t give himself a concussion when he gets caged in. It’s thoughtful. Tender, even. 

Lucas moves his hand from Baekhyun’s hip, supporting his weight practically with just his lower body, so he can line himself up with his entrance. Baekhyun’s thighs burn as they flex around Lucas’ waist, and he’s very grateful suddenly, for the muscles he’d built up doing hapkido as a teen. 

“Can I?” Lucas asks, imploring. Always too polite, even when Baekhyun’s practically begging for it.

“Yes, for the millionth time,” Baekhyun whines and digs his nails into Lucas’ arms a little bit harder than necessary. Lucas pushes in and immediately Baekhyun feels like all the breath has been knocked out of him because even four fingers (even when they belong to Lucas, whose fingers are practically twice the length and width of any normal man) can’t possibly compare to the stretch of his dick inside him. 

“Fuck,” Lucas groans when he’s pressed all the way in, hips flush against Baekhyuns’ ass, and Baekhyun couldn’t have said it any better himself. He doesn’t start  _ really _ moving yet, just slows his hips into a deep grind, the drag of his dick inside him so slow he can feel every single ridge on Lucas’ cock. 

Baekhyun buries his face into Lucas’ shoulder and whimpers. It feels good, everything Lucas does to him always feels good, but what Baekhyun wants right now is to be properly fucked, wants to take charge again and just slam himself down on Lucas’ dick, everything else be damned, but each time he tries to make use of his limited range of movement to push his hips back, Lucas just digs his fingers into his hip harder, holds him down (as if Baekhyun stood a chance against him, and his muscles, and his stupid broad shoulders anyways). It’s cruel, really, and Baekhyun still likes it so so so much.

“Is that all you got?” It should be obvious that Baekhyun’s just trying to rile him up so he’ll do what he wants, but Lucas’ gaze gets all dark and intense when Baekhyun looks at him anyways. Held up against the wall, it’s the first time he’s able to really see Lucas without having to get up on his tiptoes or tilt his head all the way up. He looks so good, like this, the breadth of his shoulders spanning his own and covering him up completely.

“Baekhyun,” Lucas says, and it’s just his name but it sounds like a warning, too, but Baekhyun just digs his heel harder into Lucas’ back. He clenches around him, purposefully, and Lucas’ reaction is immediate, one hand slamming into the wall next to his head to find purchase there as his head falls forward. 

“I asked you a question,” Baekhyun replies, taking advantage of Lucas’ momentary weakness to twist his hips down as much as he can. Lucas’ cock nudges, ever so slightly, against his prostate, and he whimpers lowly. “Is that all you got?”

Lucas’ eyes flash dangerously, expression becoming almost predatory, and he brings both his hands down underneath Baekhyun’s thighs, presses them up until his knees almost touch the wall with his calves still hooked around Lucas’ waist. He thrusts up, hard, in lieu of an answer, and Baekhyun gasps, soundless as the air gets pushed out of his lungs. 

He hadn’t realized until now how much he missed the stretch of Lucas inside him, and instantly it’s like he’s forcing the tension out of Baekhyun’s body, physically fucking it out of him and all Baekhyun can do is whine, dig his nails into Lucas’ shoulders and drag them down the length of his back as far as he can reach. Baekhyun thinks of Lucas, changing in the locker room before basketball practice, thinks about all his teammates seeing the scratch marks all the way down his back and how they’ll know  _ someone _ was responsible for them. It’s a weirdly possessive thought, and Baekhyun’s not sure he’s equipped to handle that right now.

“What are you thinking about?” Lucas asks, and Baekhyun means to open his mouth and answer but he drives his hips up hard at that exact moment, punches a moan out of him. 

“We should fuck in the locker room,” Baekhyun says, between whimpers, and Lucas groans, sinks his teeth into Baekhyun’s shoulder. “After one of your practices.” It’s not quite what he was thinking, exactly, but it’s close enough, and the way Lucas digs his fingers into his hip is enough indication that he’s into the idea, too. 

“Exhibitionist,” he replies, but it sounds less like an accusation and more just a statement of fact. Baekhyun can’t entirely disagree. “You like knowing someone could walk in and just see us, huh? Hear you begging me to fuck you open?”

Baekhyun nudges his head underneath Lucas’ chin, sucks a hickey right on his Adams’ apple, then several more right next to it, and it’s thrilling, almost, how he can feel Lucas’ moan vibrating against his mouth. “I don’t  _ beg _ ,” he says, after he’s deemed Lucas sufficiently marked up for the time being. 

Lucas just laughs, and Baekhyun feels offended, almost, except Lucas is doing this thing with his hips that’s making Baekhyun temporarily lose all brain function, so his ability to protest is severely limited at the moment. It’s an unfair battle, really. 

Every time Lucas thrusts up Baekhyun moves up the wall a little bit from the force, and he’s probably going to have bruises on his back tomorrow but he couldn’t care less, not when Lucas is holding him up and fucking into him like Baekhyun doesn’t weigh anything at all. Baekhyun keeps waiting for him to tire, for his arms to shake or for him to let Baekhyun slip down just a little bit, and it never comes. 

“Look at you,” Lucas says, suddenly, gaze heavy. “You look so good like this for me, kitten. So pretty.”

When Baekhyun looks across the room at the mirror hung on the opposite wall, he barely recognizes his own reflection, almost entirely obscured by Lucas’ body except for his face, dark with desire.  _ I don’t know that man _ , he thinks to himself. The eyeliner Jongdae had forced on him before he walked out the door is smudged at the corners a little bit from being teary-eyed earlier, which is embarrassing, but Lucas seems to like it enough anyways.

“I’m not even wearing those stupid cat ears,” he mumbles instead, thoroughly embarrassed by it all. 

“Does it matter?” Lucas asks.

Baekhyun manages to shift his hips down just enough that Lucas changes the angle of his thrusts, presses right up into his prostate and the sudden spike in pleasure must function as a truth serum too, because Baekhyun can’t lie about how much he likes it anymore, to himself or to Lucas. “No,” he whimpers, and holds onto Lucas’ shoulders for dear life. “Say it again.”

_ Pretty. Kitten. Babe. _ These are all things Baekhyun would punch anyone else for calling him, but when the words come from Lucas’ mouth he can’t help but like them. 

Lucas grips onto his ass, hard, holds him in place as he fucks up into him, so deep Baekhyun swears he can feel it in his throat. “Kitten,” he repeats, and Baekhyun squeezes his eyes shut as his second orgasm hits, crashes over him in waves. 

He cries out Lucas’ name and Lucas’ hips stutter in him, too affected to do more than just grind into him and Baekhyun shakes all over, oversensitive. It feels so good to be full like this, to have Lucas above him and inside him and overwhelming every single one of his senses. Baekhyun pulls him into a messy kiss, tries to get him to keep moving even as his breaths become short and stuttered. 

His hands drag down Lucas’ chest and his thumb brushes over a nipple half accidentally and Lucas keens, making a broken noise and slamming his hips up harder and  _ oh, right, Baekhyun was supposed to remember this _ . He repeats the motion, again, and almost immediately Lucas comes inside him with a soft moan, a total contrast to Baekhyun’s noisiness, filling him up warm and wet. 

Lucas doesn’t let him down even after that, flutters kisses down Baekhyun’s neck as they both breathe heavily. It’s only when Baekhyun’s legs fall from his waist, unable to hold on any longer, that Lucas lets him down gently, slipping out of him. Baekhyun misses his dick already, which is a ridiculous way to feel about someone’s dick, but he can’t help it. 

He can feel Lucas’ come dripping out of him and down the back of his thighs which is simultaneously extremely gross but extremely hot, for some reason. His knees feel like jello and he’d probably have collapsed to the ground if it weren’t for Lucas, sliding his arms underneath him and picking him up bridal style to carry him safely back to bed. 

“Wow,” Baekhyun says, finally, when he’s regained enough coherence to force out words. Lucas just laughs, and tosses him a t-shirt, presumably to sleep in. He slips it on, noting in a totally non-creepy totally just observational way that it smells like Lucas. It’s comfortable. He’s definitely going to steal it and never give it back. “That was…”

“Mind-blowing? Incredible? Life changing?” Lucas grins, after he’s pulled on some clean clothes and crawled back into bed with Baekhyun. He pulls the covers up around them, and Baekhyun doesn’t protest. There’s no way he’s  _ not _ staying the night this time, not after he’s been so thoroughly fucked he needs at least the next seven hours to recover. 

Baekhyun reaches out to slap at his shoulder lightly, and Lucas grabs his wrist, draws his hand up and brushes a kiss over his knuckles, too soft. “I think the alcohol makes you cocky,” Baekhyun mutters, embarrassed, and draws his hand away. “You’re much nicer when you’re sober.”

“Good thing you like me either way,” Lucas laughs. Baekhyun’s head is half-resting on his chest, so he feels the vibration of his laughter all throughout his body. It’s a nice feeling. 

“Whatever,” Baekhyun replies, because it’d be laughable to deny it. “Shut up and let me sleep, now. I’m tired. And old.”

“You’re only older than me by two years,” Lucas says, but reaches over to the nightstand to turn off the lamp anyways. He drapes an arm over Baekhyun’s waist to pull him close, and Baekhyun feels his eyes grow heavy. “But fine. You’re not allowed to run out on me tomorrow morning like you did last time though, we don’t have class. Promise?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun yawns, lets Lucas tuck his head underneath his chin. “Promise.”


	2. Chapter 2

As it turns out, Baekhyun’s not able to keep his promise after all. 

He wakes up, too early because Lucas is the type of miserable frat dude whose idea of room decor is half-empty vodka bottles lining his shelves but thinks window blinds are optional, and the sun is shining right in his eyes. Lucas is still fully asleep, head tucked underneath his chin, all his limbs wrapped around Baekhyun’s body like he’s a sexy koala and Baekhyun is his very short little eucalyptus tree. 

Baekhyun’s ass still aches, in the best way possible, a reminder of everything they’d done last night.  _ Four fingers _ , he thinks, and is immediately overcome with the urge to pass out.  _ I asked for four fingers _ .  _ Lucas put four fingers up my ass _ . Lucas always pushes his boundaries but never crosses them, almost like he knows them better than Baekhyun knows them himself. It’s almost scary how he always knows exactly what Baekhyun needs before Baekhyun even does. Baekhyun doesn’t trust a lot of people, but he trusts Lucas, almost implicitly, and it’s nice, sometimes, to let someone else take the reins and take care of him. 

He runs a hand through Lucas’ hair and Lucas stirs, blinking slowly as he draws his head back from the crook of Baekhyun’s neck. When he looks up at Baekhyun, his entire face brightens visibly and he beams, like it’s somehow a surprise that Baekhyun’s still here. 

“Good morning,” he murmurs, and trails kisses up the side of Baekhyun’s neck, over his jawline and cheeks until he presses their mouths together, firm but sweet. He smells like a mixture of stale beer and morning breath. It’s objectively gross. Baekhyun kisses him back, anyways, curls his fingers into the hair at the nape of his neck to draw him closer.

“Morning,” Baekhyun replies sleepily. He wonders if it’d be out of line to ask if there’s coffee anywhere in the mostly-heterosexual barren man cave that is Sig Mu. He’s never seen any non-alcoholic beverage here, besides mixers, and no one here seems depraved enough to mix alcohol with caffeine (though he definitely wouldn’t judge).

Lucas’ hand tightens where it’s gripping at Baekhyun’s waist, thumb circling over the jut of his hip bone. He’s eyeing Baekhyun with some interest, like he’s thinking about something really hard, the same unreadable look in his eyes he’d had last night when he saw Johnny’s arm wrapped around him. Baekhyun can only assume it’s his  _ I’m-feeling-horny-and-possibly-even-a-little-bit-posessive _ gaze.

“I think we should have sex in the shower,” Baekhyun says, at the same time as Lucas says, “I want to go on a date with you.”

“Huh?” Baekhyun asks.

“I want to go on a date with you,” Lucas says again, more firmly. Baekhyun sits all the way up in bed, suddenly extremely awake, no coffee needed.

“Um,” he says, mind totally blank, head empty no thoughts, and Lucas sits up too, looks him right in the eye with a confidence that Baekhyun sorely lacks. His hands leave Baekhyun’s body and he suddenly feels miserably cold in addition to being very confused. It must show on his face, too, because Lucas lays a big hand on his thigh, over the covers, and that’s a little better.

“You can’t say you weren’t expecting this, Baekhyun,” Lucas sighs. “We both know that I like you. It’s not a secret, or anything. I want to date you. Properly.”

And, well, yeah, that’s true, because Kun had outright told him last night Lucas was interested in him. Romantically. Baekhyun knew, even before that, because Lucas is a lot of things but he has never been dishonest to Baekhyun and his honesty carries over into the way he wears his heart on his sleeve, displaying all his emotions and his feelings clear for everyone to see. It’s always been an open secret. So yeah, Baekhyun knows that Lucas likes him, because he’s not dumb, and he knew that they’d probably have to discuss it sooner or later too. He was just hoping it’d be later. The longer they put off talking about it, the longer they could’ve kept whatever was between them casual.

“I know,” Baekhyun says simply. “I know that, I just… I can’t.”

“Can’t what?” Lucas asks, challenging. “Can’t go on a date with me? Can’t say you like me back?”

“I just can’t,” he says again, because that’s easier than saying  _ I don’t know how I feel about you _ or  _ I do know how I feel about you and that’s even scarier _ . “You’re… you’re my student.”

“No, I’m Professor Kim’s student.  _ You’re _ my TA, and there’s no rule that says I can’t date a TA.”

“I’m not just your TA, I’m your tutor, too,” Baekhyun’s only grasping at straws here, at this point, but he can’t stop. “That’s different.”

“Baekhyun.” Lucas says. “That was an excuse to spend time with you. I’m doing fine in the class. I’m good at Econ.” He pauses to think for a second. “Actually,  _ you’re _ kind of bad at teaching Econ. If tutoring is the problem, then we can just stop doing that.”

Baekhyun sputters. “It’s not my fault you’re distracting! And — even if I’m not your tutor anymore, it doesn’t change that it wouldn’t be right for me to date you.”

Lucas casts him a doubtful look, like he knows Baekhyun doesn’t  _ really _ believe the words coming out of his mouth. He draws his hand back, again, breaking eye contact after a few moments, and it’s so weird to be so close to Lucas without either one of them reaching out to touch.

“It’s just that,” Baekhyun starts. “It’s just that you’re so  _ young _ , Lucas, and I’m about to graduate, I don’t think you want to tie yourself down to me when you have so much left of college to experience.”

“You’re only older than me by  _ two years _ .” Lucas had said that last night, too. “And the whole point is that I  _ know _ I want to tie myself down to you. Even if you’re about to graduate.”

“I’m not sure you understand what you’d be getting yourself into,” Baekhyun tries, again. “You can do better than me, I promise.”

“Don’t treat me like I’m not capable of making my own decisions,” Lucas says, bitterly, and the words sting. “If you don’t want to date me, you should say so, instead of making up excuses that we both know are fake. It’s condescending.”

And the problem is that Baekhyun doesn’t  _ not _ want to date Lucas. It’s the opposite, actually, Baekhyun wants to date Lucas, a lot, and that’s a weird, scary way to feel about someone when you haven’t felt that way in years. 

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says instead. 

Lucas gives him a wry sort of smile, nothing like his usual too-wide grin, and it looks out of place on his face. “You don’t have to apologize for not feeling the same way as me, Baek.” His voice is shaky. Baekhyun’s never heard it do that before. 

Baekhyun digs his fingers into his own leg so hard he feels like he’s about to draw blood. “I know that, but I’m. I’m still sorry.” Sorry for being scared. Sorry for letting it go this far. “I should probably go. I have a meeting with Professor Kim to get to.”

It’s Sunday. There’s no faculty meetings today, and they both know that. 

“Okay,” Lucas says, and lets Baekhyun crawl out of his bed without any further protest. He lets Baekhyun redress himself quietly as he picks up all his clothing piece-by-piece, and Baekhyun almost wishes he’d get angry, or yell at him, or do something, anything, instead of giving him complete silence. 

“I’ll, um. See you on Wednesday?” he asks, after he’s gathered his phone and his wallet. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Lucas replies after a long pause, and yeah, that’s fair, Baekhyun should probably have guessed Lucas wouldn’t really want anything to do with him after this. “But I’ll see you in class, or something.”

Baekhyun nods, disappointed even though he knows he has no right to be. This whole thing is miles away from the way Lucas had sent him off last time, so far off from how Baekhyun had been expecting to spend this morning.

He lingers in the doorway, just for a second, and right as he’s about to open his mouth to apologize again, Lucas cuts him off. “Bye, Baekhyun,” he says, sounding defeated. Baekhyun knows a dismissal when he hears one, so he nods, closes the door behind him and walks downstairs like he’s on autopilot. It feels like a breakup, even though Baekhyun knows it’s not, because they were never dating to begin with.

When he passes by the kitchen on his way out, he makes eye contact with Kun, sitting at the counter. Kun looks at him with disappointment written all over his face, like he can tell Baekhyun’s just broken his best friend’s heart into tiny little pieces, which is the exact opposite of what he’d told him to do last night. He doesn’t say anything to him, though, and somehow that feels worse. 

It’s not until he’s outside, kicking aside one of the stray red solo cups littering the lawn as he waits for his Uber to pick him up that he realizes he’s still wearing Lucas’ t-shirt. His hands itch to pull out his phone and text Lucas, or maybe even call him, and he beats down that urge as soon as it rises up. 

He’ll deal with it later.

  
  


**

Baekhyun spends the next day and a half going through his non-breakup routine. He gets out of bed four times, twice to go to the bathroom and twice to eat what Chanyeol would probably call a white girl depression meal (one can of LaCroix, two Tylenol for his headache and for his ass, and a handful of Cheerios). He considers going blond, briefly, in a manic fit, then gets talked out of it by every person in his Contacts list, including his mother.

But not Lucas.

His last text to Lucas, asking if he wants his shirt back and when or how Baekhyun should give it back to him, goes unanswered. Baekhyun used to always make fun of him for having his read receipts on, but he’s thankful for it now, because even though Lucas is reading his texts but not replying to him, it’s at least a sign that he’s alive. Baekhyun doesn’t think he deserves to know anything beyond that, anyways.

Jongdae shows up Monday afternoon, cutting his moping short, and honestly Baekhyun considers it mildly impressive he waited that long to invade his apartment when Baekhyun’s been ignoring his texts for the past 36 hours. He usually threatens to call the police when Baekhyun doesn’t reply to him within at least 45 minutes. 

“I see you’re handling the breakup well,” a very annoying voice says, from above him. Hands grab at his comforter where it’s been pulled tightly around his body and start tugging. 

“People break up all the time, leave me alone,” he snaps, because he’s really not in the mood for his best friend’s antics, and he hasn’t forgotten that it’s kind of Jongdae’s fault any of this happened to begin with. “It’s not even a breakup, if we were never really together.”

Jongdae laughs and, with one final yank, unravels Baekhyun’s blanket burrito and sends him tumbling to the floor. “You’re being pathetic,” he says, too cheerfully, and pokes at Baekhyun with his foot.

“Am not,” Baekhyun grumbles. 

“Then why are you wearing a t-shirt that’s three sizes too big for you and clearly belongs to Lucas?” Jongdae asks immediately, and well, fuck, Baekhyun had forgotten he was still wearing Lucas’ shirt. 

Baekhyun whines pitifully, hoping to maybe get some sympathy, but Jongdae is a mostly emotionless little weasel who’s never felt sympathy in his life, clearly, and it just makes him cackle harder. “I’m only wearing it because it’s comfy, that’s all,” he says glumly, once Jongdae’s laughter has died down.

“You are very bad at lying,” Jongdae says, too pleasantly. Baekhyun kind of wants to choke him. “Minseok already filled me in a little. But I wanted to get your side of the story, because you’re my best friend, so talk now, or I’m going to sit on you and force the truth out of you, and neither of us want that.”

“What did Minseok tell you?” Baekhyun perks up, despite himself. It’s the most he’s gotten to hearing about Lucas in days, even though the connection’s barely-there. 

Jongdae sinks down to the floor to lay next to Baekhyun on the carpet. “He told me you made Lucas cry, for starters.” 

Baekhyun rolls onto his back and stares up at the ceiling. “I didn’t know he cried,” he says quietly.

“Would you have felt better about yourself if he didn’t?” 

“No, not at all,” Baekhyun drags his hands down his face with a groan. “I mean, I felt bad enough about turning him down, this just makes it worse.”

Jongdae sits up and tugs Baekhyun’s hand away from his face. “Well, then, you shouldn’t have done it. Lucas is probably the only person on this planet who’s dumb enough to not see that you clearly  _ wanted _ to say yes to him. You clearly like him.”

“You know I had to say no, Jongdae,” Baekhyun sighs. The implicit admission is there. He doesn’t want to say it out loud. “I never wanted any of this to happen, that’s all.”

“I don’t know what you expected,” Jongdae says. “I mean, we all knew he was — is? In love with you. You knew that, right? Because if you didn’t, you’re a lot stupider than I thought.”

“I knew,” Baekhyun replies. “Or, well, I was pretty sure, even though I didn’t know that you had planned to get us together all along, or that he’d noticed me from the first day of classes. I just… was hoping he’d get over it. It’s not that I don’t want to date him, it’s that I don’t want to date anyone.”

“Which is stupid, for a variety of reasons I won’t get into right now because you’re getting a little too sad to look at, even by your standards, so I’m going to order us a pizza and we are going to drink an entire bottle of wine so you can pull the stick out of your ass long enough to cry about your feelings.” Jongdae whips out his phone, dialing the Pizza Hut number without even looking it up. They both know it by heart, since it’s their sad drunk food of choice. “And you,” he says, pointing to Baekhyun while the dial tone rings in the background. “ _ You _ are going to take a shower, because you stink, and you look like shit. Not cute.”

That’s true. “That hurts.”

“Good, you needed to hear it.”

That’s true too.

  
  


**

  
  


The next morning, Baekhyun’s sufficiently hungover from a night of drinking with Jongdae (one bottle of wine turned into two, and then three, like it always does) and  _ still _ feeling like shit, even though he’s a lot cleaner than he was 12 hours ago. They hadn’t even ended up talking about their feelings, or whatever Jongdae had wanted them to do, just watched ten episodes of  _ Keeping Up With The Kardashians _ in a row then passed out on his couch, too drunk to do anything else. 

“You look like shit,” Kyungsoo says bluntly, when Baekhyun walks into Econ 301. 

“I know,” Baekhyun whispers back, head still aching. “Please don’t yell.”

“I’m not yelling,” Kyungsoo says again, at the same volume. “Are you hungover?”

Baekhyun nods his head weakly, collapsing in his seat and gathering his head in his hands. “Yes,” he whimpers. “Now please be quiet so I can hear myself think.” 

When he looks up, he scans the lecture hall slowly. Lucas isn’t there. He’s never missed class before, not since that first time Baekhyun had noticed him a month ago. 

“Where’s your boytoy?” Kyungsoo’s always been too perceptive for his own good. Or too perceptive for Baekhyun’s good, more accurately.

“Don’t call him that,” Baekhyun mutters, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice and failing pretty miserably, in his own opinion. “And I don’t know. We’re not really… a  _ thing _ anymore.”

The look Kyungsoo gives him is half-alarmed, half-disbelieving. Baekhyun just shrugs it off.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he says simply, and Kyungsoo doesn’t press him further. 

He doesn’t ask Baekhyun about what happened, not even when Lucas doesn’t show up for the next class, either, and Baekhyun spends the entire one-hour-fifteen-minute lecture staring at his phone forlornly. Kyungsoo pretends not to notice, because he’s secretly a good friend. It’s sick, actually, how he even misses Lucas’ notifications on his phone, how he wishes he’d Snapchat him one of those stupid gym selfies with twenty winking emojis or text him a funny meme he’d saw on Instagram that reminded him of Baekhyun (Baekhyun had always seen the meme already, because Instagram always seemed to be 6 months behind Twitter, but he’d pretend to laugh, anyways, for Lucas’ benefit). 

By the time class rolls around the following week, Baekhyun’s starting to get actually concerned, enough that he actually contemplates asking Minseok to check in on Lucas for him. It’s been exactly 8 days, 22 hours, 51 minutes since he’s last seen him, not that he’s been counting, because that would be weird. Regardless, it’s a little bit worrying.

A familiar-looking hooded figure walks into the lecture hall, two minutes after Professor Kim finishes course announcements for the day, walks all the way across the back row to sit in Lucas’ seat. It’s probably his attempt to be subtle, but it’s hard to be subtle when you stand a good head taller than everyone else on campus. Baekhyun would’ve known it was him, even though he can’t even see any part of him clearly, even if he had sat in a different seat, because it’s Lucas, and Baekhyun has spent more time looking at him than anyone or anything else past month. He’d recognize him just from his silhouette from ten miles away, if he had to. 

Lucas looks up, just for a moment, when he turns to the board. Baekhyun meets his eyes and waves, nervously, flashing him his most winning smile. 

He’d been hoping for a nod of acknowledgment, at least, but Lucas ducks his head, breaking eye contact immediately and looking very hard at his Econ textbook. Which is clearly upside down. Baekhyun drops his hand awkwardly, wonders what kind of face he must be making right now because he’s feeling a million emotions at once: shame, embarrassment, guilt, sadness, regret. And also, he’s feeling a little bit horny unfortunately because the last time he’d seen that hoodie Lucas currently has on,  _ h _ e was the one wearing it. 

The worst part is that Baekhyun almost definitely looks like a fucking mess right now, but Lucas looks incredible, because of course he does. He doesn’t look at all like a man who’s just had his heart broken. Not that Baekhyun had wanted him to look as tragic as he does, but by pretty much all indications it looks like it’s taken Lucas just one week to get over him, which feels unfair but isn’t. Baekhyun was probably just not as special as he thought, then.

Kyungsoo’s been looking at every moment of this very short and very disastrous interaction with a watchful eye, and Baekhyun really, really wishes he’d look away. 

Lucas doesn’t look up at him again for the rest of class, and when Professor Kim dismisses the students he practically leaps up from his seat and bolts out the door before Baekhyun can even breathe in his direction. It’s the fastest Baekhyun’s ever seen him move before, including the time they’d forgotten to lock his office door during a particularly intense makeout session and Kyungsoo had walked in and they’d had to jump apart to pretend like they were still conducting professional business as usual.

“Could you please stop looking like a kicked puppy for five minutes?” Kyungsoo asks. 

Baekhyun sucks in a breath. “I don’t look like a kicked puppy,” he mutters, bottom lip jutting out despite himself.

“ _ Ugh _ , not the pouting.” Kyungsoo says, with great feeling. He grabs him by the arm, yanks him up and Baekhyun goes easily. There’s no resistance left in his body, at this point. “Come on. I’m sick of watching you stare at him, or his empty seat, like a lovesick wife waiting for her husband to come back from war, circa the early 20th century. We’re going to go get lunch, my treat, and then you’re going to emote. Like a big boy.”

Baekhyun is feeling miserable enough that the prospect of free food is enough to lure him into the dining halls with Kyungsoo, even with the looming threat of having to express his feelings, the way real people do. Baekhyun usually just shoves everything down, compartmentalizes all his emotions into tiny little metaphorical boxes, and hopes for the best.

“Speak,” Kyungsoo commands, like Baekhyun’s a dog, or something. “Tell me what happened.”

“How many times am I going to have to have this conversation with people?” Baekhyun whines. Jongdae was bad enough. Chanyeol had just tried to auction him off in a Subtle Asian Dating post on Facebook and called it a day, which had been preferable to all of this. 

“As many times as it takes for you to get it through your thick skull that you need to start talking about your feelings.”

“Well,” Baekhyun starts. He pokes disinterestedly at his salad. “I don’t know if you know this, but Lucas and I have kind of been hooking up all semester. Like, a lot. Just making out, nothing serious but. Yeah.”

Kyungsoo looks at him like he’s stupid. And well, maybe he is. “I know that. Everyone knows that. Everyone with two brain cells knows that. Professor Kim probably knows, too, because god knows neither of you are subtle.”

“Choosing to disregard that,” Baekhyun says, because if he thinks too long about Professor Kim knowing anything about this he’ll disintegrate into one million tiny pieces. He’s really barely keeping it together right now and he needs all the strength he can muster to get through this. “We kind of. Had sex on Saturday. For the second time. After a party.”

“You went to  _ another _ frat party? Willingly? Without Jongdae dragging you?” Kyungsoo sounds shocked, which is understandable. Baekhyun’s kind of known for being a bit of a social hermit, at times. His friends sometimes don’t hear from him for days - it’s hard enough getting him to do anything, let alone willingly surround himself with sweaty, drunk, mostly-smelly people. 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun sighs. “I… had fun. Surprisingly. He introduced me to all his frat brothers, and we both got drunk, and we danced. And then I slept with him. And he asked me on a date in the morning, and I kind of freaked out on him, and I said no.”

“Why?” It’s a simple question, but a loaded one. “And  _ don’t _ give me the academically ethical excuse again. We’ve established that’s bullshit. It’s not because you don’t want to go out with him either, because we all know you do.”

Baekhyun spears a tomato on his fork and bites down on it aggressively, just buying time for himself to think. “I guess I don’t think he really likes me. He’s just horny, and young, you know? Blinded by dick. Or ass.”

“Please,” Kyungsoo snorts. “He’s only two years younger than you. And he probably gets more ass than you do, so try again, stupid.”

“He can do better than me?” Baekhyun tries, because that’s true, at least. 

“Lucas is a grown adult, and he’s capable of making of his own decisions. If he wants you, if he  _ chose you _ , he clearly sees something in you. You know that as well as I do, even with your glaring insecurity issues. I can tell we’re getting closer to the real reason, though.”

“I..” Baekhyun starts, then falters. “I think he has a lot ahead of him, and I’m just a washed-up senior about to graduate, and then who knows where I’ll be off to. I know what it’s like to tie yourself down to someone who’s going to up and leave you. I don’t want to subject him to that. I’m doing us both a favor. It would never work out.”

“Baekhyun,” Kyungsoo says, patiently. It’s the tone of voice he uses when he’s about to majorly scold Baekhyun, the same way his parents used to when he was a kid and they caught him drawing on the walls with crayon. Baekhyun fears for Kyungsoo’s future children. “You are not Yifan. Just because things didn’t end well between you two in a similar situation doesn’t mean you need to do this. He and Lucas are different people. More importantly,  _ you _ are a different person now than you were two years ago.”

“I hate it when you do that thing where you’re logical,” Baekhyun mumbles, feeling thoroughly chastised. He knows Kyungsoo is right. Kyungsoo is always right. “But… either way, I don’t want a boyfriend. That part hasn’t changed. Even if I do.” He swallows, throat tight. “Like Lucas, that is.” The words feel wrong on his tongue, when they roll off. He’s never said it out loud before. He’s not even sure if he’d ever told Yifan he actually liked him, when they dated. 

Kyungsoo eyes him carefully. Baekhyun hates it when he does that too, because it’s like Kyungsoo can see all his awful little secrets, like how he hasn’t washed his sheets in six months, or how he once stole a pack of gum from Seven-Eleven when he was drunk Freshman year. “Then why do you sound so upset about it?”

Baekhyun opens his mouth, then closes it, then repeats the motion for what feels like ten minutes. When Kyungsoo breaks it down like this, it’s hard to lie to himself. “I’m not upset. I just… I really think he deserves better than me, not just that he  _ can _ do better than me, and it’s not the insecurity complex talking, or whatever.” He remembers the way Lucas had refused to look at him, the way he’d ran out of the classroom without even giving Baekhyun a chance to get his attention. “And I think he’s done with me now, anyways. You saw the way he acted today.”

“These are terrible excuses, you know that right?” Kyungsoo leans across the table to tug at his shoulder until he sits up straight, then flicks him square on the forehead. Baekhyun yelps, momentarily attracting the attention of a group of sorority girls sitting next to them. He wonders if any of them know Lucas, because Lucas seems to know everyone, especially in Greek Life, and he and Kyungsoo haven’t exactly been quiet thus far. “He acted exactly like I’d expect a scorned, secretly-soft frat boy to act. You hurt his pride, and his feelings. Admit you fucked up, and that you want him back.” 

“I can’t want someone back if I never had them to begin with,” Baekhyun says, and Kyungsoo’s responding glare is so sharp it almost makes him physically cower. “But, okay, fine, I fucked up, and I want him back. I just don’t know how to do it.”

Kyungsoo leans back in his seat, and sighs in relief. “Thank god. I was wondering how much longer I’d have to coach you through talking about your feelings. And you can start by texting him.”

“He didn’t reply to my last text,” Baekhyun whines, a little petulant. “I  _ hate  _ double-texting.”

“Well get over it,” Kyungsoo stands up, tosses his jacket over his shoulder in a way that he thinks makes him look cool, but actually just kind of makes him look like one of those child actors from Newsies. “And do it quickly. Also, this took far more time than I wanted it to, on account of you being emotionally constipated. My therapy services aren’t free, and I don’t accept the Student Health Insurance Plan. I’ll send the full bill to you later this week.”

“Send it to Jongdae,” Baekhyun decides, and opens his text messages with Lucas, for the hundredth time that day. Last text still unanswered. “And bill overtime, too.”

11:02 AM [Baekhyun]  
_ hi  
_ _ i know you don’t want to hear from me right now  
_ __ but could you come to the library tomorrow? our usual time?  
_ please  
_ __ you don’t have to answer, but i’ll be waiting

He hopes, desperately, that this will work.

**

Baekhyun regrets the double-texting/triple-texting/quadruple-texting/etc., now, because it’s 45 minutes past their usual time (3:00 PM, on the dot), and Lucas is nowhere to be found. He does his best to ignore the dirty looks coming from the girl sitting across from him as his leg bounces up and down anxiously, because he’s going through it right now and frankly that matters a whole lot more than whatever stupid exam she’s probably studying for. 

Kyungsoo had warned him that he’d probably have to try more than once to get Lucas to agree to meet. Baekhyun’s not giving up after this, not by a long shot, but it  _ is  _ slightly demoralizing. Especially because he can’t stop thinking about Lucas, now, every waking moment, ever since his talk with Kyungsoo. It’s not even the good (horny) memories, just stupid stuff like how Lucas had tried to cook him breakfast after that first time, or how his hand had felt on his waist at that stupid party, warm and steady the entire time.

_ I’m whipped _ , Baekhyun thinks, with horror.  _ I’ve been whipped this whole time, and I never saw it, because I’m an idiot, and now I’ll never see Lucas again, and I’ll be doomed to just thinking about his stupid smile and his stupid laugh instead of actually witnessing it ever again and every time I see one of his stupid shirtless thirst trap selfies saved in my phone, I’ll be brought to tears. _

Someone clears their throat, behind him, and he whips his head around so quickly every neck in his muscle feels strained.

Lucas looks surprised to see Baekhyun, when he turns around, which is ridiculous because Baekhyun had been the one asking (begging, really) to meet. Baekhyun should be the one who’s surprised, not just because Lucas is 48 minutes late, but because in the back of his mind, he’d known he wouldn’t even be able to blame Lucas for not showing up. 

“Hi,” he whispers with a smile, trying not to sound too excited. Lucas looks scared, almost, like the slightest breeze would send him running off right now, which isn’t like him at all.

“Hi,” Lucas whispers back. He doesn’t smile. That’s okay. “I didn’t think you would still be here. Why did you want to meet?”

It’s got the directness Baekhyun’s come to expect from Lucas, but without his characteristic warmth. Baekhyun stands up, and for the first time Lucas’ height seems almost intimidating. He stares down at him, waiting for an answer as Baekhyun twists his hands nervously. 

“I want to explain myself,” Baekhyun says, in a rush to get the words out before he loses them. “And apologize. Properly. Let me take you out for coffee.”

Lucas blinks at him, and Baekhyun drops his head. “Please,” he adds.

“Okay,” Lucas replies.

“You don’t have to, but I’d really like the chance to make it up to you, even if it’s just a little bit, and I don’t want to make excuses for the way I acted, because it was shitty, but I — wait, what did you say?”

“I said okay,” Lucas repeats, and turns to start walking out. “Where are we going?”

Baekhyun rushes to catch up, because Lucas’ legs are roughly twice as long as his and therefore one Lucas step equals approximately two Baekhyun steps. “I was thinking, um, the cafe down the street? Right off-campus? Um. Are you sure you’re okay with doing this?” 

Lucas stops to wait for him a little bit, just so Baekhyun’s no longer trailing after him like a sad dog. “Yeah,” he says, slowing his pace significantly once Baekhyun’s fallen in line with his steps. “You wanted to explain yourself, right? The past week hasn’t been easy. If you want to end things properly, some closure would be nice.”

Panicked, he reaches out to yank at the sleeve of Lucas’ sweater, stopping them both in their tracks right as they’re rounding the corner to the coffee shop. “I don’t — want to end things, that is. That’s not what this is. I want this to be a date. A proper one. I’m sorry if that wasn’t clear.”

“A date? Really?” Lucas asks, in disbelief. Baekhyun nods in response. “That’s the worst way anyone’s asked me out, ever.”

“I’m sorry,” Baekhyun says, mortified, all the blood in his body rushing away from his brain and into his cheeks. “I’ve only ever tried to date one other person, and it was… a long time ago. I don’t know what I’m doing. But I’m trying.”

“No, it’s okay, I’m just. Surprised, I guess.” Lucas still sounds vaguely suspicious, like he’s expecting Baekhyun to reveal this was all a very elaborate prank. But he’s smiling, a little, so that’s a start. “But if you’re asking me on a date, you should do it properly, yeah?”

Baekhyun has absolutely no idea what that means. He thinks about offering to hold his hand, because that’s supposedly what people do on dates, according to every episode of Sex and the City he’s ever watched, but his palms are sweaty, which is gross, so he tries to wipe them discreetly on his jeans first.

He holds his hand out, and Lucas stares at it, in confusion. “Are you… trying to hold hands?” he asks. Baekhyun’s never been this embarrassed in his entire life.

“No, I was just stretching,” Baekhyun says too loudly to be convincing, and immediately drops his hand. Lucas grabs his wrist before he can shove his hand back in his pocket.

“I just meant that you should ask me again, and make it clear this time, instead of making me think you’re about to tell me you never want to see me again in public.” Lucas tangles their fingers together. Baekhyun’s palms are still sweaty, but he doesn’t let go.

“Oh,” Baekhyun replies. He’s definitely blushing now, too, so that’s embarrassing on both counts. “Okay. I’d like to take you on a real date, if that’s alright.”

“I’d like that too.” Lucas squeezes his hand, and doesn’t let go even when they walk inside. 

Lucas orders and pays for both of them, even though Baekhyun tries to get his wallet out first, because it turns out Baekhyun’s just awful at doing this whole going-on-a-date thing overall.

“I wanted to pay,” he whines, once they’ve been seated at their table. “I’m the one who asked you out.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to be the one who pays,” Lucas takes a sip of his drink, which is really less coffee and more cream and sugar. “But you can pay next time, if it makes you feel better.”

Next time. There’s going to be a next time.

“Okay,” Baekhyun says, wrapping both hands around his coffee mug. He realizes, suddenly, that he doesn’t have a single clue what he wants to say. “I know I said I wanted to explain, but I’m not sure where to start.”

Lucas reaches out to stroke a thumb over his arm reassuringly and Baekhyun realizes he’d almost forgotten how touchy Lucas tended to be. “Anywhere,” he says kindly, and the look on Baekhyun’s face must tell him that’s not very helpful, because he pauses. “Or, I mean, you could always start with the  _ real  _ reason you turned me down, last time.”

Baekhyun bites his lip. He doesn’t love having this conversation in public, having an audience where anybody could be listening, because he’s barely talked about this out loud since it happened, but he owes Lucas this much at least. He’s trying to do this the right way, this time.

“I dated this guy, two years ago. Yifan. We met through a mutual friend. I was a sophomore, he was a senior. So two years apart. The same as us.” He glances over, to try and gauge Lucas’ initial reaction, but he seems perfectly neutral so far. “We tried doing the long distance thing, after he graduated, and it was okay during the summer but it didn’t work during the semester. We wanted different things, but refused to see it, and so we dragged things out longer than we should have even though we were miserable and fought nearly every single day. It was a disaster, and we both ended up hurt in the end.”

“So… you thought we’d end up the same way?” Lucas asks. He looks a little bit like he’s starting to piece everything together, which is impressive because it took Baekhyun well over a week to do it for himself. 

“Kind of,” Baekhyun admits. “But in the end, even though I knew it wasn’t either of our faults that things ended up the way they did, I resented him a little bit. I felt like I’d wasted so much of time on a relationship that was never going to work out, knowing he was going to leave me once he graduated. Like our relationship was doomed from the start.” He takes a drink of his coffee, mostly because his throat is dry, not because he actually needs the caffeine - he’s too wired already. “I think I was scared that you would come to feel the same way about me, eventually.”

“So… in your own, twisted way, you thought you were protecting me.” Lucas rolls up his sleeves as he talks, and Baekhyun can’t help but eye his now-bare forearms, all veiny and very strong (which Baekhyun would know, from personal experience). Now’s really not the time to be thirsty but the horny part of Baekhyun’s brain is pretty much permanently ready to go when it comes to Lucas, and this is probably the longest he’s ever gone in Lucas’ presence without furiously making out with him at some point. 

_ Horny over arm veins _ , he thinks to himself.  _ I hate it here. This is a new low, even for me. _

“I don’t know if I thought I was protecting you so much as I thought I was saving you the effort,” Baekhyun says after a moment. “You have a lot ahead of you, Lucas. You’re clearly smart, and loved by a lot of people, and I don’t want you to wake up one day and regret… whatever this is. You could do a lot better than me, and you deserve better than me.”

“You keep saying that,” Lucas says, sounding confused. “It’s kind of been bothering me. Do you really think that? That you’re not good enough for me, or something?”

His tone is gentle, everything about him is gentle, open and nonjudgmental, from his posture to the way he’s looking at Baekhyun right now, but Baekhyun would rather eat glass right now than get deeper into his insecurities at this very moment. “I mean, I guess.” He stares at the marbled patterning of the table, and Lucas makes this kind-of pained noise across from him. 

“Baekhyun,” Lucas says. Baekhyun continues to keep his head down. “ _ Baekhyun _ .” He only continues once Baekhyun finally lifts his head, uses every bit of will he has to force himself to make eye contact. “Did you not hear my friends, last week, when they were embarrassing me about how much I liked you, even from the start?”

“I thought they were exaggerating,” Baekhyun mumbles.

“They weren’t,” Lucas says bluntly. “I thought you were the prettiest person I’d ever seen in my whole life. I still do. I knew that you were smart, and passionate, but I wanted to know more about you, so much that I  _ faked _ being bad at Econ so you’d spend more time with me. You’re too stubborn for your own good, and we’ve established that you’re not the best with communication, but you care about others so much more than you like to let on, and even I can see you put up this whole detached facade to hide that you’re secretly soft. You have a bad habit of kicking me in your sleep, and your taste in music sucks, but I don’t care because I just like spending time with you. Being with you. Is that so hard to accept?”

Baekhyun’s cheeks burn.  _ Yes, _ he thinks.  _ It is hard. _ It’s not like he considers himself particularly unlovable in general, or anything, but it’s difficult for him to understand what Lucas, who’s bright and beautiful and loved by everyone, seems to see in him. He just nods, instead of answering. Vulnerability is not his strong suit. It never has been. 

Lucas props his elbows up on the table and leans closer, like Baekhyun’s the most interesting man on earth or something. “Is that why you pretended to not know that I liked you?”

Baekhyun groans, sinking into his seat a little like it’ll somehow help him disappear. “I mean, yeah. I was in denial a little bit. And I thought that you weren’t serious about me, and you’d just… stop, if I acted oblivious about it. But I’m sorry, for what it’s worth. For all of it. I should have talked to you. But I’m not so good at the whole communicating thing, as you can probably tell.” He stares down at the mug in front of him, stirring at his drink idly instead of making eye contact with Lucas. Baby steps. Being honest about his feelings has been hard enough already, and he has no clue how Lucas just does it all the time, constantly. “So you… really don’t care that I’m about to graduate? And that I might move far away from here, when that happens?”

“I don’t,” Lucas says. “And we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. I like you, and therefore I want to go out with you.”

He makes it sound so simple. Baekhyun wishes he could do the same. “This is probably the worst date you’ve been on too, huh?” Baekhyun laughs, defaulting to self-deprecation as a defense mechanism.

“I’ve experienced worse,” Lucas smiles. He’s either lying to protect Baekhyun’s feelings, or has really truly been on some tragic dates. “And… honestly, I’m still a little upset, but I forgive you.”

“Really?” Baekhyun looks up, eyes wide. “You do?”

“Yeah,” Lucas nods. “I wish you would’ve just said that, or told me you weren’t ready to date, instead of throwing all those excuses at me, because it made me feel like you didn’t see me that way at all and had just been playing around with me, or whatever.”

“I do see you that way,” Baekhyun starts, hesitant. He breathes in deep, tries to force the words out because he  _ does  _ want to say them. “And I’m not playing with you. I never was. I like you. A lot.” It feels good to get off his chest, but he’s also done so much emoting in the past half-hour he feels like he might pass out any second now. He’s using parts of his brain he hasn’t used in years, but Lucas’ face flashes with delight, and that makes it all worth it.

“I like you too,” Lucas says. “Obviously. But…”

He trails off, and Baekhyun’s knee starts bouncing again, an anxious habit, and Lucas reaches out to still him, hand warm over the width of his leg. 

“But?” Baekhyun asks, bracing himself for the worst. 

“But just because I’ve forgiven you doesn’t mean you’re going to get me back that easily,” Lucas finishes. “So you’re going to have to keep trying.”

“I will,” Baekhyun says earnestly, breathing a sigh of relief, and Lucas squeezes at his thigh, gentle but firm. “I promise. I want to earn you back.”

“Good,” Lucas beams brightly, and for the first time all day his smile reaches his eyes. “And since you were disappointed I paid for our coffee, you can start by ordering us some dessert.”

Baekhyun pretends not to notice Lucas laughing when he trips over their chairs in his haste to run up to the cashier display.

**

“So, how long are you going to keep doing this again?” Kun asks when he opens the door to see Baekhyun standing in front of him. He’d been (understandably) angry with Baekhyun, at first, but warmed up after Lucas had confirmed that he’d properly groveled and asked for forgiveness. 

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun says honestly. “Until Lucas decides that I’ve earned him back, I suppose.” 

Kun steps aside to let him into the house, and Baekhyun walks in, dropping his backpack by the door. Sig Mu looks a lot different in the day than it does when it’s in party mode at night time, but there’s always some degree of gross-ness Baekhyun doesn’t think he’ll ever get used to. “I’m just saying, this is like, the eighth $7 Venti Double Chocolate Chip Frappuccino you’ve brought him in a row.”

“With five pumps of Cinnamon Dolce Syrup,” Baekhyun adds. “Plus extra whipped cream.” He’d forgotten that part three days ago, and Lucas had asked him very sweetly to redo the order. Lucas’ terrible caffeine addiction is emptying his pockets more quickly than he imagined it would initially, and it’s not that Baekhyun is much better, but he usually just steals Keurig pods from the Econ department teacher’s lounge to use at home, which is much cheaper (and less diabetes-inducing).

“He’s really making you work for it, huh?” Kun asks. It’s an understatement, really, because Baekhyun’s never  _ worked _ to get anyone in his life or really wanted to do so, and besides the daily coffee he’s also been walking Lucas to and from all his classes and taking him on dates when both their schedules allow. 

“Yeah,” Baekhyun says, mournfully. Lucas never does more than kiss him on the cheek, never lets him know exactly When or How Baekhyun will know he’s properly made it up to him, which is fine, Baekhyun’s just totally sexually frustrated and has been spending more time than usual with his fingers up his ass. “But he’s worth it.”

“Aw,” Kun says, at the same time as Ten says, “That’s gay,” chiming in from where he’s sitting in the living room. He’s drinking a MIke’s Hard Lemonade. At 10 in the morning. Baekhyun decides not to question it. 

Lucas chooses that moment to walk down the stairs, presses his lips to the side of Baekhyun’s head in greeting as he takes the coffee from his hand. “Good morning,” he says, to Baekhyun, then, “What’s gay?”

“You guys are,” Ten replies, and Lucas just raises an eyebrow in response.

“Great observation,” he says. Ten smiles placidly. “Baek, are you ready to go?” 

Baekhyun nods as he picks up his backpack again, offering Kun and Ten a wave. “Bye, guys!”

“Bye, Baek! Have fun later toni — ” Ten gets cut off as Kun claps a hand over his mouth, and Lucas ushers him out the door quickly. 

“What was that all about?” Baekhyun asks, confused. “What was Ten about to say?” 

Lucas slings an arm over his shoulder, pulling him into his side with a shrug. “Who knows? Ten’s weird. He’s always weird. It could’ve been anything, really.”

“I guess so,” Baekhyun says thoughtfully as they cross the Quad. “You have a game tonight, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” Lucas looks down at him with a strange look on his face. “I was going to ask you if you wanted to come. How did you know that? You hate sports.”

“I do not  _ hate _ sports,” Baekhyun insists. 

“Yes you do,” Lucas replies, and okay, fine, Baekhyun’s not the biggest sports fan, and maybe Chanyeol had been the one to tell him about tonight’s basketball game because he’s been trying to get with one of the male cheerleaders, but Baekhyun had been planning on going anyways, even outside of Chanyeol’s questionable sexual conquests.

“Basketball is important to you, so it’s important to me too,” he says, instead. “And if you’re okay with me being there, I’d like to come cheer you on. Or whatever.”

Lucas still seems confused, but he’s also grinning like a madman, so Baekhyun figures that was probably the right thing to say. “I’m  _ very  _ okay with you being there. You wanna get dinner after?”

“Sounds good,” Baekhyun says, and checks the time on his phone. Five minutes until Lucas’ first class starts. “I think you have a lecture to get to, and I have a lot to learn about basketball in the next seven-ish hours, so. I’ll see you tonight?”

“Can’t wait,” Lucas drops his hand to squeeze at his waist briefly before he lets go. “I’ll be sure to play extra well, just for you.”

“I won’t be able to tell the difference,” Baekhyun says seriously, and Lucas laughs like he’s just made a very funny joke, so he might be severely underestimating how much Baekhyun doesn’t know about basketball. 

He’ll probably have to enlist Chanyeol’s help on this one.

**

As it turns out, Chanyeol’s idea of help is sending him Pornhub links to basketball-themed porn, which isn’t that helpful. 

“So you’re telling me you  _ didn’t _ watch Basketball Jock Pounds Nerd Twink Raw In Public?” he asks as they settle into the bleachers, too loud as always. They’re ten minutes late, because Chanyeol had insisted on waiting in line for food, so the game’s started already. 

“No, I did,” Baekhyun says. “I thought the way they used the kneepads was really resourceful. It just didn’t teach me anything about basketball overall.” 

He scans the court for Lucas’ number  — 20  — and sees him running along the side looking all sexy in his black-red-and-white jersey. If you filmed him and played the video at half speed, it’d probably look like that scene from Baywatch where all the lifeguards are running down the beach in slow motion, because everything Lucas does looks sexy and movie-worthy, and suddenly Baekhyun’s reminded of the lifeguard costume Lucas had worn at that Halloween party the night they first hooked up, and how his thighs had looked in those red shorts, and if he’s not careful he’s definitely going to get hard in the middle of this game, which is the opposite of what he wants.

“Baek, you’re drooling.” Chanyeol’s knee accidentally knocks into his as he tries to get comfortable with the limited legroom (not a problem for Baekhyun, really). “You wanted to learn about basketball?”

“Yeah, that was the whole point of me asking you for help?” Baekhyun frowns, and wipes at the corner of his mouth. 

Chanyeol guffaws so hard he accidentally spills a little bit of his popcorn into Baekhyun’s lap. Baekhyun is reminded, for the millionth time, that it’s impossible to take him anywhere in public. “I thought you guys were doing some themed roleplay! To spice up the sex, or whatever. Unless he’s still not putting out.” 

“That’s none of your business,” Baekhyun huffs, and dodges someone’s flailing elbow as the crowd cheers. Baekhyun’s pretty sure that means someone just made a basket, or something, but it wasn’t Lucas, so it doesn’t matter. “Is it always this crowded?”

“Not like this, but this is their playoff game, so it’s like, the second most important game of the season,” Chanyeol says.

“Huh?” Baekhyun replies.

“Oh, okay. I see. Let me put it in terms you’ll understand,” Chanyeol leans in, close, to be heard above the screams of the people around them and speaks slowly, like Baekhyun is a very stupid infant. “This is their League of Legends Mid-Season Invitational. Next is their World Championship.”

Baekhyun shoves at his shoulder as Chanyeol cackles. “Shut up,” he says, unwilling to admit that the metaphor did kind of help him understand this all better. “I knew what you meant the first time. So this is like, really high stakes, huh?”

“Yeah,” Chanyeol replies, and he probably says something after that too, but Baekhyun’s momentarily blacks out because Lucas lifts the bottom of his jersey to wipe the sweat off his forehead and it’s like he can feel every circuit in his brain short out.

“Sorry, come again?” he asks after a few very long minutes. 

Chanyeol rolls his eyes and throws a handful of popcorn at him. “You’re hopeless. Just watch the game.”

Baekhyun lasts the entire game while only accidentally cheering for the opposite team once and making just three overtly thirsty comments about Lucas’ arms, and as far as he’s concerned that’s a success. Their team wins, 84-73, with Lucas making the final basket, and immediately he looks over the crowd like he’s searching for someone  — Baekhyun doesn’t want to be presumptuous, or assume anything, except Lucas’ whole face lights up right when they make eye contact and he waves to him, excitedly, so he must’ve been looking for him. It makes him feel warm, and also gross, but mostly Baekhyun can’t ever remember anyone looking this enthused to see him, ever.

Chanyeol jogs up to the court after to try and catch his cheerleader fling, who’s definitely out of his league and has the worst resting bitch face (and the best ass) Baekhyun’s ever seen on a man, but Baekhyun does catch him softening for a moment when Chanyeol accidentally trips over his own two feet trying to get to him, so he can’t be all bad. It’ll probably work out for him. Baekhyun opts to wait by the locker room, until it looks like the team has cleared out before he approaches.

He’s not sure if he’s allowed in here, exactly, but no one’s stopped him, so he pushes the door open, knocks at the wall to get Lucas’ attention when he walks in. “Hi,” he says, feeling breathless even though Lucas is the one who’s been running around chasing a ball for the past hour and a half, not him.

“Hi yourself,” Lucas replies, sounding amused. He rises from the bench where he’s been sitting, towel slung around his neck. He still has his jersey on, so Baekhyun’s not sure what he’s been doing here this whole time, because it definitely wasn’t changing into regular people clothes. Not that he’s complaining. “Did you like the game?”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun nods enthusiastically. “It was the best.”

“Oh yeah? What was your favorite part?” Lucas laughs, pulling him in by the waist for a hug. He smells vaguely like sweat, and deodorant, but it’s not unpleasant. It’s the opposite of that, actually, but that might just be Baekhyun’s sex-deprived monkey brain talking. 

Baekhyun pauses. He’d been too busy checking out Lucas and trying to ignore Chanyeol to actually watch the game properly, not that he would’ve known what was going on anyways even if he had been watching with his full attention span.

“Well?” Lucas prompts, looking amused.

“When you bounced the ball,” Baekhyun says, desperately, grasping at straws, and Lucas laughs again, louder. “But, um. Hold on. I have something for you.”

Lucas pulls back enough to give him a weird look, probably not expecting gifts, and Baekhyun shrugs off his backpack, unzipping it and bringing out a very modest flower bouquet to hand over to him. They’re a little smushed from being in his bag this whole time, but it’s the thought that counts, maybe. “For you,” Baekhyun says, like it’s not obvious already. “Congratulations on, um. Playing a good game. And winning.”

“You know you don’t give basketball players flowers after games, right?” Lucas asks, tone completely neutral. He accepts the bouquet from Baekhyun, anyways, staring at the flowers like he’s deep in thought. 

“I didn’t know that,” Baekhyun’s hands fall by his side, a little awkward. “I can take them back if it’s weird, or you don’t want them.”

“No, I want them, it’s just — ” Lucas pauses. “You’re trying, like, really, really hard. You’re really doing your best. You really like me, huh?”

Baekhyun flushes all the way down to his neck. “I thought that was obvious,” he mumbles. “I’m seriously trying here. The only sport I watch is figure skating, and I only watch it during the Olympics, and giving flowers seemed like standard practice for that, so I thought it was just transferable across sports, but apparently not?”

Lucas stares at him like he’s the only man to have ever lived, ever. “You are so dumb,” he breathes out, sounding awed, and before Baekhyun can get offended he grabs him by the wrist and brings him in for a very enthusiastic kiss.

“Oh,” Baekhyun says into his mouth, and Lucas shoves his tongue down his throat like he’s trying to make a point. “ _ Oh _ .”

He winds his arms around Lucas’ shoulders, tilts his head to the side to lick into his mouth filthily and Lucas lets out a groan, reaching around with his other hand to squeeze at Baekhyun’s ass roughly. The bouquet falls to the floor, long forgotten, and Lucas shoves a thigh between his legs. Baekhyun ruts down on instinct, helpless, trying to press closer. 

“What about dinner?” Baekhyun breathes out when they break apart.

“Fuck dinner,” Lucas says very eloquently, kissing along Baekhyun’s jaw and down his neck. Baekhyun’s never agreed with anything else more in his entire life. He sucks a hickey right above his collarbone and if Baekhyun wasn’t ready to go before, he definitely is now. “I’m done making you wait. God. You know how difficult this was for me?”

“Probably not as difficult as it was for me,” Baekhyun replies, because he likes to make everything into a competition, and also because it’s true. 

Lucas just grabs at his hips, forces him to ride down against his thigh and Baekhyun whimpers, knees buckling underneath the pressure. “It was so hard having to be around you all the time and trying to control myself, I wanted you so bad,” he moans, shoving his face into Baekhyun’s neck and biting over whatever skin he can reach. “ _ Please _ let me take you home so I can fuck you.”

“Can we — in here?” Baekhyun pants, struggling to get the words out because Lucas has reattached his lips to Baekhyun’s and is refusing to let up. “Been waiting so long, don’t think I can wait until we get back to my place. Or yours.” 

“You’re unbelievable,” Lucas says, but he’s got this dazed look in his eyes that says otherwise, and well, Baekhyun can also literally feel his dick hardening against his leg. That’s about as solid as evidence gets. “Right here, Baek? Right now?”

“Over the bench,” Baekhyun blurts out, because he’s been thinking about it since he walked in and saw Lucas sitting there, looking absolutely fucking unreal. His tongue swipes over his swollen lower lip. “Bend me over the bench.” 

Lucas looks like he’s contemplating for just a second before he nods, lifting his jersey up and over his head in one smooth motion. “Okay,” he concedes, like he’s doing Baekhyun a favor. As if Baekhyun can’t see the growing wet patch at the front of his basketball shorts. The shorts themselves don’t leave a lot to the imagination, either. Baekhyun wonders if he’s drooling again, then decides he doesn’t care. “Pretty sure no one else is coming in, anyways. You have to be quiet though.” 

“Yes yes yes yes,” Baekhyun chants, dragging his fingers through Lucas’ hair to tug him down into another kiss. “I promise, please — ”

“You’re being so polite today,” Lucas remarks, fingers digging into his thighs roughly. “Maybe I should withhold sex more often if this is how you get.” 

“I like you a lot and the amount that I like you is not dependent on how much sex we are or aren’t having,” Baekhyun says, just as a disclaimer. He sucks a mark into Lucas’ neck, matching the hickey Lucas had just placed on him. “That being said, please never do that again.”

Lucas’ hands flex at his hips and he presses another quick kiss over Baekhyun’s mouth before he’s rearranging Baekhyun’s limbs until he’s bent over the length of the bench, elbows braced at the top. He palms over the curve of Baekhyun’s ass, squeezing lightly and pushing his hips forward to grind into him, once, twice, before Baekhyun starts to get impatient.

“ _ Lucas _ ,” he whines, squirming, and Lucas slaps his ass with one hand, yanks his jeans down with the other. 

“Needy,” Lucas remarks. He circles Baekhyun’s entrance with the pad of his thumb through the fabric of his briefs before pulling those down, too, and Baekhyun lets out an open whimper when he feels the cool air hit his sensitive skin. Leaning in, he wraps his hand around the circumference of Baekhyun’s thigh to spread him apart. It’s like he’s too impatient to undress Baekhyun fully, not that it’d be a smart idea to do that anyways since they’re having sex in such a public area.

Baekhyun bites down on his lower lip in anticipation when he feels Lucas’ breath fan hot over his entrance, but he ducks down, lower, to suck a few marks into his inner thighs. “You’re a tease,” he complains, nails digging into the plastic beneath him. 

“There’s no time for that, babe,” Lucas says, laughing, as he leans back to admire his handiwork. He digs his thumb, hard, into a particularly large mark right on Baekhyun’s left thigh, and Baekhyun moans audibly. “We have to be quick. Another time, though.”

“I’m holding you to that,” Baekhyun grumbles, and looks up with confusion as Lucas leaves his side, just for a second, to rummage around in the bag in his open locker before he comes up with a package of condoms and a travel size packet of lube. “Do I want to know why you have that ready to go with you?” 

Lucas tears open the packet of lube with his teeth, makes a face when some of it gets into his mouth (which should be super unsexy, but Baekhyun finds it attractive anyways, and he’s starting to wonder if that’s what  _ liking  _ someone means) and pours half of it over his fingers. 

“Was gonna take you back to the house to fuck you good, got the lube and condoms in case you were too impatient and wanted to do it in my car,” he explains. He sets the rest to the side and then he’s reattaching himself to Baekhyun in an instant, his bare chest pressed over his back. “Didn’t think you’d want to do it in  _ here _ , you fiend. Fucking insatiable.” His tone is fond, and Baekhyun can’t help but be thankful that Lucas seems to find the fact that he’s dick-crazy for him endearing, somehow.

“Just for you,” Baekhyun says weakly, too grateful to question him further. Lucas presses a finger into him, sliding in easily as Baekhyun lets out a blissed-out sigh. 

“Did you… stretch yourself out earlier?” Lucas asks, shocked, as he adds a second finger alongside the first with only minimal resistance. Baekhyun means to answer him, but Lucas curls his fingers inside him in a come-hither motion and he gasps, his whole body shuddering as he brushes over his prostate.

Baekhyun reaches back to grab at Lucas’ wrist when he slides in a third finger, pushes his hips back. “I have needs,” he pants, fucking himself back on Lucas’ hand. “And I had to satisfy them myself.”

“Oh?” Lucas asks, stilling the motion of his fingers as Baekhyun whines urgently. “And how was that?”

“Not good enough, your hands are so fucking big,  _ stupid big _ , it wasn’t the same, not even if I used four fingers,” Baekhyun cries out as Lucas twists his wrist, pressing into him so deep he could swear he felt it in his stomach. “God, fuck — that’s good — ”

“That’s right,” Lucas says, delight evident in his voice, as he draws his fingers out. Baekhyun whimpers at the loss, pathetically. “Only I can take care of you the way you need, right?” He rolls the condom over himself in one smooth motion, pours the rest of the lube into his hand to stroke up over his cock before he’s settling back in to grip at Baekhyun’s hip, his free hand wrapping around his length to guide him to press into Baekhyun’s entrance, waiting. 

“Yes,” Baekhyun whines, and wriggles his hips as if to remind Lucas he’s got something to attend to, here. “Yes, only you, now  _ please _ _ — _ ”

Lucas pushes into him, slow and unrelenting and Baekhyun immediately goes slack-jawed, eyes rolling into the back of his head as Lucas flexes his hips forward until he’s fully sheathed, bottoming out with a groan. Baekhyun went almost a month after getting Lucas’ dick the first time with no problem, but after the second time it’s like something in him broke, and he’d been so wound up, these past few weeks, and it feels so good just to be full again. 

“Baek,” Lucas moans, voice shaky. He’s pressed almost fully against Baekhyun now, his weight not fully pushed onto him but his front plastered to Baekhyun’s back, mouthing over the nape of his neck. “Fuck, you feel so good.”

“Then move already, damn it,” Baekhyun curses, rolls his hips back meaningfully as if to say  _ get on with it _ . It burns, but just a little bit, in the good way that Baekhyun’s been aching for. He’d missed this — missed the stretch, missed Lucas pressing kisses all over his neck and into his shoulder, missed Lucas overall — and he really, really needs to be fucked properly right now. 

Lucas’ hands tighten at his hips before he plants one foot against the tiled floor for stability and starts thrusting up into Baekhyun, setting the pace hard and fast right from the start, and it’s a really good thing he’d said himself that this has to be quick because Baekhyun’s not sure he’ll last longer than five minutes. It’ll be a miracle, really, if he does. “So good for me,” Lucas groans into his shoulder, biting down hard as Baekhyun whimpers. “You did so well, wanted to make you wait longer but you were trying so  _ hard _ and it was so cute, and I missed you so much — ”

“Missed your dick,” Baekhyun whines instead of saying something more appropriate but maybe equally true like  _ I would’ve waited for as long as you wanted me to _ or  _ I always want to be good for you _ , elbows shaking as he struggles to keep himself upright. Lucas wraps an arm around his waist, pulling him up from underneath to support him, his other hand still braced on the bench next to Baekhyun’s. “And you, too.”

“Priorities,” Lucas snorts, but Baekhyun knows he’s perfectly capable of reading between the lines. He rucks up Baekhyun’s shirt to roam all over his body, like he can’t decide where to touch before he turns his head to the side to press his face into Baekhyun’s neck, the drag of his cock inside him so good Baekhyun wonders, in his depraved state, if there’s any feasible way he could spend the rest of his life getting fucked like this. 

Lucas angles himself differently and slams forward, knocking a high-pitched moan right out of Baekhyun’s mouth so loud his hips suddenly still. 

“Told you that you had to be quiet, babe,” he chides Baekhyun, rising up so his chest is no longer plastered to Baekhyun’s back and removing his arm from his waist. Baekhyun collapses forward, fingers digging into the bench beneath him so hard his nails turn white.

“Please,” Baekhyun says, desperate, thrashing underneath Lucas to try and force him into moving again. “Don’t stop, please, I need it, I’ll be quiet — ”

“Shh,” Lucas shushes him gently and brings a hand up to his mouth, one finger circling the plush of his bottom lip before he’s pushing three fingers inside him, resting heavy on his tongue. “I won’t, it’s okay, we just don’t want anyone walking in here right?”

Baekhyun nods frantically, because words are kind of escaping him at this point and even if he was coherent enough to string together an actual sentence, it’d be muffled by the fingers in his mouth right now, anyways. Lucas rolls his hips up again, grinding deeper inside Baekhyun and Baekhyun moans in relief, eyes fluttering shut as he pushes back to try and meet Lucas’ thrusts. The fabric of their clothes rustles as their movements become more desperate and though the decision not to undress fully (or at all, in Baekhyun’s case) had probably been totally utilitarian, just meant for convenience in case someone were to see them like this and they needed a quick way to act like nothing had been happening, there’s something that feels dirtier, more depraved about it that only adds to the thrill of doing it here, in the locker room, where really anyone could walk in on them at any time.

Lucas pants into his shoulder and slams his hips forward so hard Baekhyun feels like he might pass out, sparks blurring at the edges of his vision so he can’t see, can’t focus on anything other than the feeling of Lucas inside of him right now. The fingers inside his mouth prod just a little deeper and Baekhyun plays along, swirls his tongue around them and swallows them down the same way he would if he was blowing Lucas, and he’s wondering if it’d be taking it too far to try and deepthroat them, except Lucas chooses that moment to pound into him faster, with a renewed fierceness, so the best he can manage is a muffled moan and a slight arch of the back to at least try and act like he’s doing more than sitting back and letting Lucas do all the work.

Lucas’ firm hand on his hip turns into nails digging into his skin as he pulls him back onto himself and Baekhyun is so, so close already, barely able to support the weight of his own body, his moans so breathy they sound like gasps more than anything else. Baekhyun wants to kiss him, so badly, even though his body isn’t exactly cooperating right now, so he tilts his head to the side and whines, and Lucas must get the idea or at least want the same thing because he draws his fingers out and grips at Baekhyun’s chin, forcing his head back to press their mouths together. 

His neck cranes back uncomfortably but Baekhyun can’t bring himself to care, just whimpers into the kiss, which is really more of them mutually mouthing at each other than anything else, both too far gone at this point to do much more. Lucas fucks into him smoothly even as his pace gets more erratic and Baekhyun feels the muscles of Lucas’ abs flexing against his back, drawn tight, before he’s shoving his face into Baekhyun’s neck again, spilling into the condom as his hips stutter. He doesn’t stop moving the whole time, buried impossibly deep in him, reaches underneath their bodies even while he’s coming to stroke Baekhyun off, and that’s all it takes for Baekhyun to orgasm with a near-sob, tears prickling at the corner of his eyes as he bites down on his lower lip to stifle his moan. 

Lucas doesn’t pull out immediately, opting instead to press kisses down the column of Baekhyun’s neck and down his spine, like he’s trying to bask in the afterglow as much as one possibly can for locker room sex. Even then, too quickly, he peels himself off Baekhyun to dispose of the condom. But it feels nice, for once, for Baekhyun to not be thinking about an exit strategy immediately after having sex, to know he’s in this for real with Lucas and is going to be getting into the habit of sticking around even post-orgasm. Baekhyun tugs his jeans up as Lucas pulls his shirt back on, and Lucas picks the bouquet back up from the ground where it had fallen earlier, admiring it carefully.

“Next time,” he says, smiling. “We can do it in the showers, instead.”

_Next time_. _That’s Lucas’ favorite phrase, when it comes to their relationship._ _There’s a guaranteed next time, and a potentially infinite amount of them after that._ “Yeah,” Baekhyun replies, voice a bit hoarse from trying to stifle all his moans in the past twenty or so minutes. “Next time.”

Lucas pulls him up by the wrist and into his arms and Baekhyun lets out a sigh, tucking his head underneath Lucas’ chin as he lets himself get wrapped up in his (slightly sweaty) embrace. “So does this mean I’ve officially made it up to you, then?” 

“No,” Lucas says jokingly. “I don’t forgive you, and I was just using you for your body, and I definitely don’t want to see you ever again after this.” 

“Shut up,” Baekhyun snorts and shoves at his chest. Lucas breaks into a grin, pulling him closer. “But, seriously. I’m one hundred percent forgiven? Are we dating now? Like, are we boyfriends?”

Lucas leans down to nose at his cheek and Baekhyun tries, unsuccessfully, to squirm away. “Are you going to  _ ask  _ me?”

“Really?” Baekhyun whines. “You’re going to make me actually say it out loud instead of just doing the millennial thing where we never actually say we’re boyfriends but we act like a couple so it’s implied to everyone and ourselves? You want me to ask you to go steady? No one does that anymore. This isn’t the 50s, Lucas. We’re not in Grease. You know I hated that movie.”

“Say it,” Lucas says simply, and kisses underneath Baekhyun’s jaw, right where he’s ticklish. Then again, more insistently. “ _ Say it _ .”

Baekhyun huffs and pushes Lucas’ head away from where he’s currently trying to suck another difficult-to-hide hickey into his neck. “Okay. Will you be my boyfriend?”

“Wow, you’re really not good at this,” Lucas laughs. “That was the lamest asking out ever. Put some  _ feeling _ into it, Baek.”

“ _ Fine _ ,” Baekhyun sighs. “Lucas Wong. You are the kindest, most honest, most loving person I have ever met. I like you very much and I want to date you. Will you  _ please  _ be my boyfriend?”

“I don’t know,” Lucas answers, very solemnly. “You’re going to have to give me some time to think about it. I think you need to convince me a little bit more, maybe tell me how handsome I am or how great I am at sex, or maybe treat me to a very expensive dinner at that nice Italian bistro downtown where the cheapest thing on the menu is a cheese plate that costs 37 dollars.”

“Very funny,” Baekhyun rolls his eyes and starts struggling to unwrap Lucas’ arms from around himself and Lucas laughs, loud and echoing in the empty locker room, holds him even tighter. 

“Okay, okay, I’m done now. I like you very much too, although that’s been pretty much established from the beginning, and I would love to be your boyfriend.” Lucas pauses. “But is dinner still on the table?”

“I’m still in college, Lucas. I’ll buy you a Happy Meal at the McDonald’s down the street.” Baekhyun says. 

“Appetizers and drinks at the new French place that just opened up,” Lucas counters. 

“A Happy Meal  _ and _ a McFlurry. Final offer.”

“Burgers and fries at the diner three blocks away, and I’ll pay for dessert.”

“Burgers and fries at the diner three blocks away, you pay for desert  _ and  _ you tip the waiter.”

“Done,” Lucas nods. “It’s been a pleasure doing business with you,  _ boyfriend _ . You drive a hard bargain.”

“I know,” Baekhyun smiles smugly. “You better get used to it.”

“Oh, I think I will.” Lucas drops his arms, laces his fingers between Baekhyun’s to squeeze their hands together. “I have all the time in the world to do that, don’t I?”

Baekhyun squeezes back. “Yeah. You do.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> four months and 30k words later this series is officially (kind of) done!! :') special thank you for those who have been waiting since november for this to be complete, i didn't think it would take this long or spiral into this at all. i do want to eventually write some other stuff for this AU (Lucas POV "prequel", epilogue of them dating, etc.) but for now it's complete. thank you all again & and i'm already working on like 3 other different fics so there is more baekhei to come!!

**Author's Note:**

> get ready for baekhyun emotional constipation next chapter!!
> 
> i know this has been a long time coming i'm sorry but this turned into something much bigger than i thought it would be i PROMISE i will not wait another 5 months to write the second chapter of this


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